The world of work as we know it is changing rapidly. Rigid employment structures that characterised the 20th century are collapsing. In their place is a gradual shift towards casual labour, flexible working and a workforce characterised by income volatility and job insecurity.

At Anthemis, we see this evolution as a core tenet of the future of work. Increasingly, the workforce of today is taking on roles where individual incomes fluctuate from month to month. It’s not just your stereotypical freelancer or gig worker that endures life on volatile incomes. People on zero-hour contracts, the self-employed, temporary and agency staff all find themselves dealing with this problem on a frequent and ongoing basis. Indeed, 43 percent of the UK workforce now lack the financial security of a stable income. This emerging workforce spans the depth and breadth of the UK economy and the income instability endured is now pervasive across industry, occupation, skill level and employment type.

The attention that this emerging cohort is receiving is definitely on the rise. At Anthemis, we’ve been exploring this space for some time and have been curious about different ways to solve problems for this emerging workforce today and in the future.

Wollit is a company in this market that we believe has a real chance to impact this societal segment in a meaningful way. The Wollit Income Promise, Wollit’s first financial product, is an income stability tool that offers an innovative and ethical solution to the misery of income volatility, a problem that leads a tremendous number of people to high-cost credit products or payday lending.

We are excited to invest in Wollit through the BBVA & Anthemis Venture Creation Partnership. This means that Wollit now has access to mentors and resources inside the Anthemis and BBVA ecosystems beyond pure capital – including product development, data science, business development and talent resources – as it grows its business. We believe wholeheartedly in Wollit’s socially focused mission and look forward to supporting the Wollit team to bring much-needed financial stability to this underserved section of the workforce.

The company’s founder, Liad Shababo, has been an entrepreneur in a number of different industries for the past 20 years. Personally, I’ve interacted with Liad in various industry forums for a long time and I am excited about working closely with him and the Wollit team as they build a great company.

At Anthemis, we’ve seen society change over the past 20 years and believe we’re on the cusp of even more change over the next 20 or more years; the question is not whether people will end up with less income stability than they have today, but what are we going to do about it? We believe that Wollit offers an essential solution in a changing landscape of work and we can’t wait to help them make lives better for a large and important part of society.