London-based Ben lets mid-sized companies to personalise benefits and rewards for each employee. The company does this by combining a modern SaaS platform with payments and financial infrastructure needed to improve the employee experience while minimising cost and streamlining the admin for companies.
The platform of Ben lets employees choose any existing benefits programme while it adds a plethora of additional options and saving both money and time.
Eyes to mend benefits system
The London-based employee benefit and reward pioneer Ben raised $2.5M (nearly £1.82M) funding in a round led by Cherry Ventures and Seedcamp. The investors that took part in the financing found include fintech and HR tech angel investors including Paul Forster of Indeed.com, Taavet Hinrikus of Transferwise, Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas of GoCardless (now Index Ventures), Philip Reynolds of Workday, and Matt Robinson of Nested.
Used by fast-growing companies
Ben’s employee benefits platform is primarily used by smaller and mid-market employers who are underserved. Currently, over 100 companies use Ben’s platform including fast-growing app outfit Lightricks, distributed tech scaleup Impala and games and virtual worlds technology company Improbable.
Its system affords new opportunities for benefit providers, who can reach new employers via this platform. Once integrated with the Ben API, even niche offerings can access relevant employers and segments of employees easily.
Surge during COVID-19 crisis
Ben has witnessed an uptick in interest following the surge in remote working during the that COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Ben has experienced a surge in demand leading to its growth and it’s team has grown to 10.
Besides letting customers gain access to the end-to-end platform to manage their benefits programmes, the London company also offers “Ben at Home”, which is a free version of its product delivering free remote engagement for teams. It lets employees attend expert-led live virtual activities ranging from meditation to cocktail mixing and make use of discounts on well-being services.
Sebastian, Co-Founder & CEO of Ben said, “Our software platform allows companies to load funds and set individual spend rules on how these can be used. Employees are then able to choose from group benefits, such as private medical insurance, mental wellbeing services, or dental plans, while a real per-employee Mastercard opens the door to pretty much any product or service in a tax-efficient and compliant way. It’s a win-win: Employees get tailored benefits, and companies only pay for what’s used, take advantage of tax exemptions and preferred pricing, while streamlining the administration.”
David, Co-Founder & COO said, “We saw lots of unanticipated demand last year, driven by the remote working boom due to COVID-19. This has been an accelerant to our growth as office-based benefits disappeared overnight, driving more companies to implement flexibility faster than they otherwise would have. COVID meant that aside from managing benefits budgets, clients also began using Ben in a myriad of unexpected ways including for work from home and wellbeing budgets, Covid-relief allowances, remote engagement, and recognition.”