FinTech start-up Salary Finance has raised $20m investment as it looks to expand across the pond.
The Series B round was supported by founding investor Blenheim Chalcot and financial services company Legal & General.
Founded in 2015, London-based Salary Finance will use the funds to grow its financial wellbeing platform for employees in the US.
Around 17 million employees in the UK have less than £100 in savings, according to the site, yet most people also have around 26 more debt than they did five years ago.
Salary Finance helps users turn these debts into savings, as evidence emerges that the more financially secure a worker is the more productive and happy they will be in the workplace.
The platform takes savings deposits and loan repayments from an employee’s salary, giving them a simpler, easier way to handle their finances.
“We are delighted to build on our success in the UK with our US launch,” said Salary Finance chief executive Asesh Sarkar.
“We see the same societal challenges in the US, with 40 per cent of American employees lacking any real savings, and carrying personal debt, particularly high-interest debt like credit cards and payday loans.
“This becomes a never-ending way of life for many, impacting their engagement and productivity at work.”
Legal & General managing director for FinTech Nick Frankland said: “[Salary Finance] will grow in size by over 10 times this year and being awarded Prince Charles’s BITC Responsible Business of the Year 2018 was a real honour.
“At L&G we work really hard in support of businesses we invest in and believe that our job is to put patient capital in touch with impatient technology, especially when it creates fantastic benefit for consumers.
“The success of Salary Finance is a terrific endorsement of that strategy.”
Having reached nearly one million employees in the UK, Salary Finance also boasts the likes of BT, Capgemini and various NHS trusts and councils on its books.