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Leeds startup behind fair pay app for hourly workers among seven startups receiving investment from new Praetura Ventures and NPIF II startup programme

Press release 09 December 2024

A mobile app that enables hourly workers to track their hours and easily raise pay disputes has been named among seven companies receiving a £200k investment from PraeSeed, a six-week cohort investing programme for early-stage businesses.

WAC helps workers across areas like 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.

Portrait of George Fairhall, founder and CEO of WAC

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 startup 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, WAC’s founder Fairhall says the 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.

George Fairhall, founder and CEO of WAC, said:

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 and 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, said:

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 is providing investment to businesses who 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 and provides loans from £25k 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 purpose of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North of England. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for the North’s smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.

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. Adam Kaucher, partner at Irwin Mitchell, acted on behalf of Praetura Ventures.

Further Information

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Notes to editors

About the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II 

  • Operated by the British Business Bank, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) provides a mix of debt and equity funding.  NPIF II will offer a range of commercial finance options with smaller loans from £25k to £100k, debt finance from £100k to £2m and equity investment up to £5 million. It works alongside the Combined Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and Growth Hubs, as well as local intermediaries such as accountants, fund managers and banks, to support the South West’s smaller businesses at all stages of their development. 
  • The funds in which the NPIF II invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, City of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees, South Teesside, Darlington, Durham, Northumberland, Tyneside, Sunderland.     
  • Supported by Nations and Regions Investments Limited, a subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the Bank is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. Neither Nations and Regions Investments Limited nor British Business Bank plc are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

About PraeSeed

PraeSeed is an early-stage investment programme that focuses on deploying equity investment into early-stage businesses in the North to help fill a known funding gap in “preseed” or pre-revenue businesses. Launched in March 2024, with the first-ever cohort starting in June that year, PraeSeed initially welcomed 12 businesses for a series of workshops, mentoring sessions and support from Praetura Ventures’ investment team, external experts and existing founders, with the aim of improving investor readiness among the businesses involved. The programme is funded by NPIF II – Equity North West, which is managed by Praetura as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, and aims to invest over £6m into 35 start-up businesses over the next five years. 

Find out more here: praeturaventures.com/praeseed/

About Praetura Ventures

Praetura Ventures is a Manchester-based venture capital firm which invests in early-stage, high-growth businesses across the UK, with a particular focus on supporting entrepreneurs across the North of England.          

Praetura Ventures is committed to adding value post-investment and providing the ‘more than money’ support that businesses need to grow, including additional expertise, resources, networks and guidance, to its investee companies.        

Since 2019, Praetura Ventures has backed 45 companies, including North West headquartered businesses Culture Shift, AccessPay and Peak. The business has now grown to over £260m AUM and recently won the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II mandate for the £100m fund dedicated to equity in the North West of England.   

Learn more at praeturaventures.com.      

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