After helping workers get paid faster at DailyPay, Jason Lee and Rob Law want to help now them build wealth at Salt Labs.

Recently emerging out of stealth, Salt Labs is an HR and fintech startup that enables hourly workers to own the value of their work, Lee, Salt Labs’ CEO, explained. It’s an intriguing idea that allowed Lee and Law to raise $10 million in pre-seed funding. Fin Capital led the round, with all of DailyPay’s funders backing Salt Labs too.

“I have this core belief that there is much great technology that’s been built for a lot of rich people to spend their money,” Lee began. “There is not much great technology for people trying to make ends meet.”

How Salt Labs helps hourly workers build wealth

Lee said hourly workers miss out on wealth-building opportunities such as stock options, 401Ks, and partnerships. While growing DailyPay, he saw a chance to help them build wealth that accrues with their efforts.

The disparity dates back centuries, with some families able to pass assets and savings to the next generation and some excluded. Laws were passed that allowed some people to receive plots of land but not others. Later legislation like the GI Bill provided opportunities, but only to some. The problem compounds with the generations.

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This fintech is helping hourly-wage workers build wealth through a rewards points system.

Salt Labs is a loyalty and payments financial-technology company. The startup just launched its app, Salt, which allows hourly employees to earn points, called “Salt,” for every hour they work. Salt can be redeemed for goods and experiences, including wealth-building resources like savings bonds.

“The mission of Salt Labs is to enable hourly workers to own the long-term value of their work,” Jason Lee, founder and CEO of Salt Labs, told Insider. “And we want to effectively create asset-ownership for the work that’s being done.” 

Lee previously founded DailyPay, an earned-wage access startup. Prior to DailyPay, he was a managing director in the equity capital markets group at Goldman Sachs.

Salt Labs announced a $10 million pre-seed round on March 29, led by Fin Capital. Lee declined to share the startup’s valuation.

Lee compared Salt to a frequent flyer miles program. In the same way a flyer earns “miles” for every flight, employees earn one Salt for every hour they work. But unlike flyer miles and other rewards programs, the Salt that employees earn never expires, meaning it can be accrued over their tenure. 

Salt can be redeemed everything from educational resources like training programs, to savings products, and personal consumption like trips. Salt can also be transferred between users like a peer-to-peer payment app. Read the full story here.

Salt Labs is a new loyalty and payments technology company. It is the second company to be founded by Jason Lee and Rob Law, co-founders of unicorn DailyPay. The mission of Salt Lab is to enable frontline workers to own the long-term value of their work. We envision a future where workers are able to capture the value of their work beyond their hourly wage, leading to greater financial freedom and long-term wealth creation. Salt Labs believes that by modernizing the total rewards structure for workers, companies can better align their long-term interests with those of their workers.

Salt Labs (saltlabs.com), a new loyalty and payments technology company today announced it has raised $10 million in a pre-seed funding round. The financing was led by Fin Capital with participation from Anthem Venture Partners, along with other investors.

Salt Labs founding team includes Jason Lee and Rob Law who previously co-founded unicorn company DailyPay which created the on-demand pay industry to address income inequality for hourly workers.

The mission of Salt Labs is to enable hourly workers to own the long-term value of their work. Unlike white collar workers who are afforded several opportunities to build long-term wealth through company stock plans, partnership interests, or even a 401k plan, it is often the case that frontline workers aren’t afforded those same opportunities for a variety of technology or cost reasons. This has resulted in the growing wealth gap disparity.

According to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, the gap between worker productivity and hourly compensation has grown dramatically over the past 40 years. Productivity is up roughly 62% while wages are up roughly 16%. The growth implied from heightened productivity went to higher corporate profits which ultimately made up shareholder returns and higher salaries for the top tier of earners. Additionally, the Federal Reserve reports that 1 in 4 Americans exit the workforce with zero retirement savings, and 2 out of 3 workers today believe they are not tracking for retirement.

Salt Labs’ technology changes how a worker earns and enables them to capture the value of their work, on top of their regular paycheck. Through its offering, Salt Labs is reinventing the way in which hourly workers earn in order to help them build towards a secure financial future. An initial version of the product is meant to launch next month.

Today, the company is announcing its $10 mm pre-seed financing round, led by Fin Capital. “We back repeat founders and having collaborated successfully with Jason and Rob at DailyPay, we are thrilled to support them in building Salt Labs – the future of worker equity,” said Logan Allin, Managing Partner and founder of Fin Capital, who is also joining the Board of Directors. “Fin Capital was an ideal partner for us given their full life cycle investment strategy. We are looking forward to partnering with them from pre-seed to IPO. We are also excited that 100% of our institutional investors are DailyPay investors who have backed us before,” said Jason Lee, CEO of Salt Labs.