Start-up behind fair pay app for hourly workers secures six-figure VC funding

A Leeds-based start-up that enables hourly workers to track their hours and easily raise pay disputes has been named among seven companies receiving a £200,000 investment from PraeSeed.

PraeSeed is a six-week cohort investing programme for early-stage businesses.

WAC is a mobile app which helps workers in sectors such as hospitality keep better records of their hours worked and pay received, with tools to manage holidays, days off and extra shifts tailored to everyone from zero-hour contract workers to full-time staff.

Founder and CEO George Fairhall launched WAC, which has over 350,000 downloads, after years spent working in hospitality, where she continuously encountered the issue of not being paid correctly – a problem WAC is actively tackling.

In a bid to champion low-paid workers and ensure no shift worker experiences the frustration of missed hours and incorrect pay, Fairhall also stepped away from a potential career in law.

In total, seven businesses have secured investment from PraeSeed, an initiative founded by the Manchester-based VC Praetura Ventures and funded by NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

Launched in May, PraeSeed’s mission is to identify start-up and early-stage investment opportunities for NPIF II, while providing founders at the pre-seed stage with new opportunities for additional funding and support with investor readiness.

For its inaugural year, PraeSeed hosted 12 businesses from various sectors and regions, with each invited to take part in workshops and presentations on all aspects of scaling a business, including creating a go-to-market strategy, navigating financial modelling and tackling fundraising.

As well as Praetura’s investment and portfolio teams, the sessions were hosted by later-stage founders and experts from the business landscape.

Following the PraeSeed programme, Fairhall said her business plans to prepare for a larger seed fundraising round and to explore partnerships with B2B companies, including large corporations within the service sector who are already employing existing users of the WAC app.

She added: “The programme has been instrumental to our growth by helping us to refine our scaling strategy and establish essential governance, ensuring we are ready for seed institutional investment.

“The £200,000 funding has been a key part of our currently active bridge round.

“It has encouraged additional venture and angel investment, positioning us for a seed funding round in the New Year.

“We’re excited about the opportunities ahead, as we continue to scale our business and we are so excited to have Praetura on the journey with us.”

Jessica Jackson, investment manager at Praetura Ventures and PraeSeed lead, added: “We love backing founders who have built a business to solve a problem they’ve previously encountered themselves, and WAC fits into that category perfectly.

“We understood the vision and the problem George’s business is trying to solve instantly after receiving 200 applications for this year’s PraeSeed programme, which provides investment to businesses we believe have a golden opportunity to scale with the right support and funding.”

The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIFII), which has funded PraeSeed through NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, covers the entire North of England.

It provides loans from £25,000 to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium-sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.

The next instalment of PraeSeed will launch again in March next year and businesses wishing to take part our encouraged to follow Praetura Ventures on LinkedIn or X for more details. WAC’s existing funding round remains open and the business is actively seeking investors.

WAC was advised by Carly Gulliver, partner, and Gavin Smith, managing associate, at Addleshaw Goddard. A team from Irwin Mitchell LLP, led by partner Adam Kaucher, acted on behalf of Praetura Ventures and supported the legal framework for the programme.