Company: Hi
Founder: David Brown
Website: https://www.hi.group/
Business: Hi is a U.K.-based service that finances companies’ payrolls to boost their liquidity and provide employees with flexible access to their pay.
About David and Hi
Hi, is a U.K.-based service that finances companies’ payrolls to boost their liquidity and provide employees with flexible access to their pay. It was launched during the pandemic, which upended the traditional model of office life and resulted in employees seeking more flexibility in their jobs and benefits — and employers scrambling to meet those expectations to attract and retain talent.
Hi funds worker paychecks through what is essentially a revolving loan to the employer. Workers can access their earnings for free using a Mastercard debit card or wait to be paid on a regular payday through direct deposit. Employers, meanwhile, can use that money for things like new equipment. Brown cracked this kind of financing open by viewing wages as the asset securing the revolving loan.
During Covid the world suddenly understood the risk to payroll and the shared economic toll if payroll gets disrupted. In 2021, he partnered with Mastercard and Railsbank to pilot the salary access card. Earlier this year, Hi joined Mastercard’s Start Path engagement program for startups, giving them access to Mastercard’s expertise and global connections to help them scale.
In the three years since its inception, Hi has raised $8 million+, and the company is actively pitching big employers.
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