Resolution Ventures, the social investment arm of the UK’s Resolution Foundation, has reached the first close of its £9 million WorkerTech fund with £6.75 million secured to back startups using technology to transform working conditions, pay, and career prospects for low-wage and insecure workers.
This new fund aims to accelerate innovation in sectors that have long been plagued by precarious employment, as they rapidly evolve alongside broader economic and technological shifts.
The WorkerTech fund targets early-stage ventures developing tech solutions that empower workers, bringing transparency to pay, supporting collective organising, simplifying access to workplace justice, and opening pathways to skills training and career progression. The fund uniquely combines the Resolution Foundation’s labour market insights with venture capital discipline to back startups tackling real labour market frictions at their root.
Among the portfolio companies highlighted are Organise, an app that mobilises collective worker bargaining power; Valla, a legal tech platform that democratises access to workplace dispute resolution; and TaskHer, which connects skilled tradeswomen to customers in traditionally male-dominated fields.
Ruth Curtice, Chief Executive at the Resolution Foundation, spoke to the fund’s impact potential: “The Resolution Foundation has always sought to understand the UK labour market, and make proposals for how to improve jobs, pay and conditions. While policymakers can make a difference, so too can individuals and companies. Resolution Ventures has a great record of backing pioneering start-ups that have made a positive change for hundreds of thousands of workers. This new fund means we can have an even bigger impact.”
The fund plans to deploy investments between £75,000 and £200,000, focusing on pre-seed and seed stages, with flexible quasi-equity options. It’s backed by leading social investors including Better Society Capital, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and Ufi VocTech Trust, reflecting a growing wave of capital committed to socially responsible innovation.
