Chime Acquires Salt Labs, Starts Employer-Focused Business Unit

Chime has acquired Salt Labs to accelerate Chime’s growth through the employer channel.

The resources of Salt Labs, an enterprise technology company whose flagship product is an employee rewards benefit, will help draw new members to Chime’s banking services platform, the companies said in a Wednesday (June 26) press release.

“Through this acquisition, we will aim to partner directly with employers to reach millions of consumers and introduce them to the Chime platform,” Mark Troughton, chief operating officer at Chime, said in the release. “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.”

Together with products, Chime will gain immediate access to the enterprise client relationships Salt Labs has developed across a range of industries, including transportation, call centers, hospitality and parking services, according to the release.

With the acquisition, the Salt Labs team, led by company founder Jason Lee, will join Chime, according to the release.

In addition, Chime will launch a new business enterprise called Chime Enterprise that will be led by Lee and will focus on accelerating Chime’s growth through the employer channel, beyond Salt Labs’ products, per the release.

“We’ve always believed that financial progress begins with employment and should be centered around the primary financial account,” Lee said in the release. “We are thrilled to be part of this next stage of growth at Chime and to build Chime Enterprise alongside the incredible team at Chime.”

Chime announced in May that it had opened a waitlist for MyPay and would soon add the earned wage access offering to its banking app.

With MyPay, qualifying Chime members will be able to access between $20 and $500 of their pay before payday during each pay period; see their available advance amount through MyPay, within their Chime checking account in the Chime app; and choose to have the funds deposited to their Chime checking account within two days for free or to get the funds instantly for a $2 fee, the company said at the time in a press release.

“Two-week pay cycles are outdated, and people need good ways to access money between paydays,” Chris Britt, CEO and co-founder of Chime, said in the release.