Collective Benefits raises £3.3m to build the first benefits platform for gig workers

Collective Benefits, a venture-backed insurtech platform, has closed £3.3 million ($4.3 million) in funding from Stride.VC alongside existing investors Delin Ventures, Insurtech Gateway and several angels with experience in building some of the largest gig platforms including Uber, Deliveroo, and Urban.

Collective Benefits aims to tackle the growing protection gap created by the gig economy, in which self-employed workers often do without basic benefits such as family leave and sick pay, as well as essentials like mental health support and critical injury pay.

The startup is building a tech platform that gives gig workers access to a full range of affordable, portable protections and benefits.

Collective Benefits is already working with a number of on-demand service platforms who are giving their workforces access to these benefits. The startup will use the funding to further their growth and offering for gig platforms. A consumer service aimed at freelancers will follow later this year.

Anthony Beilin, CEO and co-founder of Collective Benefits said: “There are six million self-employed workers in the UK, which includes both higher-paid freelancers and gig economy platform workers. Yet, neither group typically has a safety net - no holiday pay, no family leave, no mental health support, not even paid sick days. We are building Collective Benefits so that the gig economy workers are covered by the same protections typically reserved for full-time employees.”

Collective Benefits says it has built the first benefits platform specifically for the self-employed that will serve the entire gig economy ecosystem.

Fred Destin, partner at Stride.VC, said: “We're seeing services platforms gain unstoppable momentum in every segment of our lives, from rides to food delivery to freelancing. We need a new playbook. Collective Benefits addresses one of the core challenges in this brave new world of work, using technology to design and deliver a new type of safety net to all the participants in this fast-growing part of our economy.”

Robert Lumley, director and do-founder of Insurtech Gateway, added: “The insurance industry faces a massive challenge in keeping up with the extraordinary growth in self-employment. Collective Benefits has created entirely new insurance products for the self-employed not addressed by traditional insurers and accessible through a flexible tech platform that allows them to get the cover they need.”