Pri0r1ty Intelligence Group PLC has rescued employee benefits startup Pirkx from administration.
Pirkx was co-founded in 2018 by Stella Smith and aimed at the gig economy – a sector which employs millions of people in the UK alone but does not generally offer many employee benefits.
For a small monthly fee, it gave them access to retail, entertainment and dining discounts, as well as 24/7 access to a doctor, a confidential counselling service, discounted gym membership and other benefits such as skills workshops.
In 2022 it set an ambitious target of reaching a million people by 2025 as it took investment beyond £4 million, with backers including NoBa Capital, Joyance Partners, Love Ventures, 1818 Venture Capital, Vala Capital and Capital Pilot Boost Fund. Total funding in the business to date is £5.4m.
The company was chaired by investor and ex-Google UK MD Dan Cobley – also the co-founder of ClearScore and SalaryFinance – but he left the position in August 2025.
Smith had previously founded several small businesses, supported by a network of freelance and contract workers. Over time Pirkx began to offer its product to SMEs and now has a “growing pipeline of high-priority corporate opportunities”, according to Pri0r1ty Intelligence, an AI-focused business delivering growth solutions to SMEs.
Pirkx fell some way short of that million-person target, with just 10,800 active paying members in the UK as of June this year.
For the year ended 30th April 2025, Pirkx reported turnover of £554,584 and loss before tax of £965,000 and underwent an operational restructuring. Smith is still listed as CEO.
“While Pirkx established strong unit economics and high gross margins, its historical growth was constrained by high manual administrative overheads and customer support costs,” said Pri0r1ty, which has agreed to pay £50,000 and a capped 4% royalty payment on revenue for five years for its operating assets, technology platform, IP and business contracts from administrators Begbies Traynor.
“The acquisition is being undertaken on a debt free basis, save that the company will assume Pirkx’s current payroll liability estimated at approximately £38,000 a month.”
Pirkx users will migrate to the Pri0r1ty platform post-integration to continue to access their subscriptions underneath the Pri0r1ty Pirkx brand, “with little to no operational downtime”.
Pri0r1ty says it will integrate its proprietary AI product suite into Pirkx’s core platform to transform its cost structure and revenue profile. This includes AI voice agent Vox; AI customer support agent Advisor; and data enrichment tool Compass ID.
Through these AI implementations, Pri0r1ty expects to achieve immediate operational efficiencies.
Pri0r1ty CEO Rory Maxwell said: “The acquisition of Pirkx represents a pivotal step in our growth strategy. Pirkx built an incredible product proposition with thousands of active SME users, but like many growing platforms, it faced administrative and operational scale friction.
“By applying Pri0r1ty’s proprietary AI automation stack-Vox, Advisor, and Compass ID-we believe we can eliminate cost inefficiencies, unlock the active pipeline, and turn Pirkx into a strong revenue generating division.
“More importantly, Pirkx gives us direct, daily engagement with over 10,000 SME business owners and employees almost overnight. This transaction proves our model: acquiring user bases at attractive valuations, plugging in our AI growth engine, and expanding our overall SaaS distribution network.”