Wagestream raises £40M to end the payday poverty cycle

  • Balderton

The firm’s latest funding includes a £15m Series A round led by Balderton and Northzone and a funding facility of up to £25m from lending bank, Shawbrook.

The funding total is, to date, the UK’s largest pool of social impact investment.

Wagestream is a ‘get-paid-as-you-earn’ service which allows workers to access their earned income in real time. Employees can draw down a percentage of their earned wages any day of the month for a flat £1.75 fee. There are no loans involved and therefore no interest is charged. 

Wagestream is on a mission to end in-work poverty and destroy the ‘Poverty Premium’, where people on low incomes pay more for a range of essential products and services such as insurance, energy, and credit.

Over 120,000 UK employees at clients including David Lloyd, Rentokil PLC, Camden Town Brewery, Slug & Lettuce and Carluccio’s can now access wages in real time through Wagestream.

Rapid adoption of the Wagestream platform by UK corporations proves employers are willing to invest in staff financial wellness and tackle in-work poverty.

Many Wagestream clients have already identified a number of CSR and HR advantages to implementing the service, such as improved staff loyalty. 

Wagestream allows employees to access a % of their wages as they are earned, and stream their salary directly into a savings account in real-time

The antiquated monthly pay cycle inflicts huge financial damage on household finances and its days are numbered. Too many people are pushed into a corner by in-work poverty and forced into the hands of payday lenders and high-cost credit.

Peter Briffett CEO and co-founder, Wagestream
Wagestream’s app also provides financial education.

We fell in love with the strong product-market fit of Wagestream. We very rarely hear such universal positive feedback from all who have tried a product. Companies used to take an active role in supporting the financial health of their users but this has slowly been eroded, to the extent where employees paid at the end of the month are effectively subsidising their employer for 29 days a month. Wagestream starts to restore the right balance.

Rob Moffat Partner, Balderton

Wagestream allows employees to access a % of their wages as they are earned, and stream their salary directly into a savings account in real-time

Read more about the fundraise in the news:

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