Toronto’s Moves has closed a USD $5 million seed funding round led by OMERS Ventures to advance its mission of making the gig economy work for its workers.
Moves is the all-in-one financial app built exclusively for gig workers. Moves’ members across 50 states manage their money better while earning free shares in the companies they work for.
The gig economy, which has erupted over the last several years, continues to grow exponentially, and now includes more than one-third of all U.S. workers. In the U.S., the current gig workforce of 59 million is expected to grow to 86 million by 2027.
“The gig economy is surging, yet its workers continue to be left behind,” said Matthew Spoke, CEO of Moves. “Recent studies have shown that 80% of gig workers report an unexpected expense of $1,000 would be difficult to pay. Our commitment to helping our members starts with reducing day-to-day financial challenges and then grows to give them a seat at the table as shareholders. As we move forward in our journey, we are grateful to those investors who are joining us in our support for gig workers.”
Moves launched its mobile app in 2021 after spending hundreds of hours in cars, on bikes, on foot, in parking lots and burrito lines listening to gig workers. Since its founding, Moves has built its products in partnership with gig workers, focusing exclusively on their needs.
Moves has over 10,000 members on track to earn over $56 million by year’s end 2022 and better manage their money with early deposits for weekly payouts, earnings insights across 16+ supported apps, and cash advances up to $1,000.
To accelerate its mission of making the gig economy work for its workers, Moves has taken a radical approach of enabling thousands of gig workers to become owners in the companies they earn on. Inspired by recent shareholder activism towards ESG objectives, Moves is allowing its members to earn share rewards* in Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Grubhub, Target and Amazon through the Moves Collective.
“Moves is uniquely positioned to solve many of the challenges gig workers are encountering,” said Laura Lenz of OMERS Ventures. “The Moves Collective, for example, is a brilliant solution to a persistent issue for gig workers, who traditionally don’t share in any of the value they have helped create.”
The Moves Collective now holds over 4,500 shares across the supported public gig companies.
In parallel, Moves has elevated the voice of its members through its first shareholder proposal to Uber, advocating for an independent board member with first-hand experience earning in the gig economy.
The $5 million financing round also included a group of former gig economy and consumer technology senior executives from companies such as Airbnb, eBay, Facebook, Lyft, Uber, and Shopify. Other investors for this round include Panache Ventures and N49P Ventures.