The founders of DailyPay have emerged with their latest startup. Salt Labs, a loyalty payments company focused on the nation’s roughly 79 million hourly workers, has raised $10 million in pre-seed funding.
Fin Capital, a fintech-focused venture capital firm that invested in software provider DailyPay, led the round for Salt Labs. Other investors include Anthem Venture Partners, which has funded mobile banking card provider CARD, and DO$H, the cash back app.
Salt Labs, of New York City, is looking to reinvent the total compensation received by hourly workers, who comprise the majority of wage earners in the U.S. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 119 million full-time wage and salary workers in the U.S, at the end of 2022. More than half, or 78.7 million, were hourly workers aged 16 years or older, BLS said.
Hourly employees typically include restaurant, grocery store and construction workers as well as some nurses that earn a set hourly wage. This group does not have access perks typically offered to salaried employees. “For those in the hourly workforce, or frontline workers, those alternatives don’t exist in one easy way. It’s not like you can go to McDonalds and here’s your stock option program,” said Jason Lee, the CEO and co-founder of Salt Labs.
Lee hopes to eventually change this. The app lets hourly employees earn rewards, or “Salt,” for each hour they work. Lee pointed to airline frequent flier or Starbucks reward programs as...
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