Why we invested in Organise
We are happy to announce that we have completed our investment in Organise. RLC Ventures Alpha Fund invested in an oversubscribed funding round of £570k, which was led by Ada Ventures.
You can read more in TechCrunch here.
All of us at RLC Ventures are extremely excited to be partnering with Nat Whalley and Bex Hay on their mission: “to give everyone the tools, network and confidence to make change happen at work.”
As with all our investments, we try to give our community some context and justification behind our investment.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Where did we find this deal?
We were first introduced to the Organise founders through an Angel we met following our investment in Scribeless last year. Given our historical interest in Social Impact, we were immediately aligned with Nat and Bex’s mission and huge advocates for the work that they had done to-date.
What is Organise?
Organise is a technology platform that enables workers to self-organise, and campaign anonymously for fairer treatment in their places of work. As companies become more and more powerful, they continue to mistreat their employees and staff. Given recent shifts in work behaviour, and the increasing shifts in workforce structures, it becomes an increasingly prevalent issue. Organise leverages a technology-enabled digital platform, which puts the power back in the hands of workers, ensuring they are treated appropriately by their employers, no matter the size of the company or the nature of their work.
Who is behind it?
Nat Whalley(CEO) and Bex Hay(CTO) worked together previously at 38 Degrees, the UK’s biggest tech platform for campaigning (where Bex was CTO and Nat led fundraising).
Founder-market fit
This is impressive. Both founders have received accolades for their work (Bex was named by The Independent “a thorn in Jeff Bezos’ side” for her work on the campaign that forced fairer pay at Amazon. Her side project, Amazon Anonymous built a community of 200,000 people that forced Amazon to pay a living wage to all UK workers). The tech stack Bex built remains to be used by 10M people across 11 countries today.
Traction to date
The company was founded back in 2017. Through minimal marketing spend, Organise now has 650,000+ (increased from 80k to 600k during COVID) members, and they are targeting 1M members by the end of 2020. To date, growth has been organic and highly viral (pay for 100 users, 500+ join via free referral).
Some examples of successful campaigns on Organise to date are:
- Tesco (led to paying temporary staff properly) - Christmas temps at Tesco won their campaign to change the way Tesco pays temporary workers. Tesco forced some staff to be paid on prepaid cards that charged them to withdraw cash or set up a direct debit for bills. Staff used an Organise petition to call out the policy of the prepaid card in the press. They won the choice to be paid directly into their bank accounts.
- McDonald's (led to largest pay rise in ten years) - a campaign calling for £10 an hour went viral amongst UK staff. They won the biggest McDonald’s pay rise in a decade. Their Organise network also went on to crowdsource data about the burns they’d got in McDonald’s kitchens. Using Organise to spot a pattern of behaviour that led them to demand better safety procedures.
Market Opportunity
Trade Unions currently generate £1.5B in UK subscription “revenues”. Trade Unions are declining in participation and relevance to younger workers. Trade Unions have barriers to entry and sign-up friction: to join Organise you need a smartphone. Recent political announcements suggest that changes in employment law are imminent which would help Organise via changes in the legal redresses needed.
Co-Investors
Our friends Matt Pennycard and Check Warner from ADA Ventures led the round. Also participating alongside us are Leo Ringer and Patrick Newton from Form Ventures, Ascension Ventures as well as various Angel Investors.
Venture Pledge
Nat and Bex have yet to choose a charity to support, but we will be sure to keep you posted as soon as this changes.
