Brightside, which recently raised $33 million in a Series B funding round, helps employers improve the financial health of their workforce. Tom Spann, CEO and co-founder of Brightside, joined Cheddar News to discuss.

Financial Care Platform Brightside Helping Employers With Workers' Finance Needs

financial care platform. Bright side raising 33 million in a series b round led by obvious Ventures. Bright side says it's created a new category and employee benefits called Financial care, which aims to help employers improve the finance, the health of their workforce. So joining me now is tom spann co founder and ceo of bright side tom thanks so much for coming on the show late on a friday. Give me some more details here about what your company offers to employers and their workers. Kristen thanks for having me. Bright side was built to drive our oi for employers by improving the financial health of working families. So we've um employers pay us to provide one place to go for all their employees and to do that, we had to be particularly strong in helping people who were really underserved by financial wellness programs in the past. Um so we provide not only a tech platform and an app that can be accessible anywhere, but also a financial assistance, somebody who's on their side that can help them understand their life context and help them navigate to the right financial solutions and then we combine that with real Paycheck link solutions because we work for employers were tied to the paycheck and can offer things like loans and much different interest rates and it would be available to these folks otherwise. And so that ability for us to provide those solutions is key. So tom do you find that companies for the companies that you're currently working with that this is something that the employer covers, It's a covered benefit or is this something that employees would have the option to pay extra for? Now? This, this is paid for by the employer because it's a, you know, this is just driving tremendous costs for the employer. Um it's 30% of all health care costs this country driven by poor financial health. It's the biggest driver of stress which drives all kinds of conditions. The biggest social determined of health. It's the biggest barrier to having health equity in this country are these financial health discrepancies. Right then it's a big driver of absenteeism. If I don't have money to fix the car, I can't get to work. And it's the biggest driver of turnout. People show up to their employers or financial security for themselves and their family when they can't get it, they leave at twice the rate of people who are financially healthy. So we can do the things we're doing, like reduce the people with sub prime credit scores by 34% of the population. Then we're driving that financial health and we're seeing, you know, 40 plus percent reductions in turnover. People who write to people who don't right? Um Well, look, it's so important now, especially as rates rise to write a lot of credit card debt mounting as inflation continues to be extremely high elevated near its highest level in 40 years plus interest rates are rising and that makes some of that debt even more expensive tom I'm just curious, you've raised $33 million, how are you gonna use that money to expand? We're, you know, we're super excited to have obvious ventures and impact investors. A new investor for us. We're gonna use a to reach more families, right? We're gonna make sure employers understand the R. O. I. That we can drive and get more employers on our platform. Secondly, we'll expand the partners on our platform, the kinds of products that can be paycheck link. I think there's a whole range of things and get even better options for these employees and get even more of them in the door. Um And then finally we'll look at geographic expansion. We've got employers are looking for us to expand globally because this global issue, it certainly is a global issue. What do you find in the current environment tom is the biggest financial burden facing employees at some of the companies that you work with. You know, I don't want to oversimplify and say it, but you know, you've got to start with basic cash flow, right? You know, the US Census Bureau reported 37% of Texans last month missed rent or mortgage payment. Um you see the 70% live paycheck to paycheck. They they've got to start to build savings and so what's cool about bright side is we're seeing 50% of the people use us start saving directly out of their paycheck. So it's just a set it and forget it kind of thing. Which creates that savings habit and they start to build hope and believe they can save and then they can start to achieve other financial goals. So it starts with that basic cash flow and then you start working on things like credit score and that production. Yeah, it's a journey that's for sure. Um and I'm glad that you're there to help. So congrats again on the funding round. That's Tom's fans, Ceo and co founder of Bright Side.