Jason Lee, the entrepreneur who cofounded the payroll service DailyPay, is selling his latest startup, Salt Labs, to neobank Chime Financial. Roughly all of Salt’s 22 employees will join Chime, including Lee, who will lead a new business unit. The deal, which is expected to close later this week, calls for Chime to provide an upfront payment of $14m, according to people familiar with the deal.
“This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for Chime to acquire an innovative employee rewards company that has key employer relationships, and a founding team that has created some of the most disruptive technology in the enterprise earned wage access space,” said Chime COO, Mark Troughton. “Through this acquisition, we will aim to partner directly with employers to reach millions of consumers and introduce them to the Chime platform. We look forward to leveraging Salt Labs’ existing relationships with employers and building upon the Chime MyPay™ earned wage access platform to further address the needs of everyday people.”
