SINGAPORE: Stream, the employee benefits firm that provides four million low-income workers with cheaper financial services, is considering a stock market listing after lifting its revenues 81 per cent to £66.8 million.
The loss-making company, which is understood to be valued at more than $1 billion, operates under a legally binding social charter to “do good” and supports 900,000 NHS staff to access their wages early, save and borrow, said it planned to list “in the foreseeable future”.
Peter Briffett, its co-founder and chief executive, said a public listing was a natural next step after Stream had raised over £170 million in venture capital since its launch in 2018.
“We are definitely going to have a public market listing. As a British business it makes sense for us to very much consider the London market,” he said.
However, a final decision on the choice of stock exchange has not yet been made as the company’s shareholders include major international financial institutions and has recently expanded in the United States, where it now serves one million people at companies including the retailers Dollar General and Albertsons.
Briffett acknowledged the choice of stock market is “a shareholder decision” and that Stream has “optionality” because of its success in the US. It has not yet appointed City bankers to advise on its initial public offering.
“They are still courting us but those decisions will be made in the next weeks and months,” he said.
The company makes its money from employers such as Next and Asda, paying to use its platform, as well as a £1.95 transaction fee it charges employees accessing their wages early, interest on loans and from brands paying to target discount offers at specific occupations, such as nurses or chefs.
In accounts to be filed at Companies House shortly, the company reported its pre-tax losses narrowing in 2025 to £18.5 million from £22.2 million previously. A source close to Stream said that it achieved unicorn status after a £67 million fundraising last autumn.
The business was set up by Briffett and Portman Wills to tackle the use of predatory payday lenders by working families with few savings. Briffett said the company’s mission was to “impact 100 million people” in the long term.
In the UK, it has helped families typically earning less than £35,000 a year to save £100 million, he said, by rounding down pay cheque earnings and moving those small, regular sums into savings accounts.
“In the UK, where 25 per cent of households have less than £100 in savings, we now have 340,000 households saving for the first time,” he said.
Stream’s loans are cheaper than the alternatives available to employees with little credit history, he added.
A typical £3,000 loan paid back over three years costs £551 less in interest charges than other providers, Stream stated. It charges a representative annual percentage interest of between 13.9 per cent and 19.9 per cent, but the rate can be higher. The company secured the ethical B Corp status in 2022.
Stream is backed by investors including Belgium-based Sofina, Balderton, an early investor in Revolut, and Better Society Capital, which invests monies from orphaned bank accounts and pension and insurance policies into social impact ventures. The British Business Bank, the government-owned economic development bank, has committed £22 million.