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Latest Announcement

14 May 2025
Agatha Lobban at pirkx
5 minutes read

Latest Announcement

Ex-Reward Gateway chief, Rob Boland, backs small business wellbeing benefits champion, pirkx

Rob joins as Interim-COO, building enterprise-level operational capabilities fit for a new era of growth
Accompanied by funding from Rob, which strengthens the Company’s offering and ability to scale
Endorsement comes at a critical time for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro businesses, battling challenging trading conditions.

14th May 2025, London, UK - Today, SME wellbeing benefits platform, pirkx, announces Rob Boland, ex-COO of global employee benefits giant, Reward Gateway, has invested in the Company and subsequently joined to support growth as interim-COO.

Rob’s focus will be building enterprise-level operational excellence, which will take the company into a new era of global hypergrowth. Rob’s arrival is supported by investment, which will boost the Company’s ability to reach more businesses, quicker.

Rob is a legendary figure in employee benefits. Joining the end-to-end employee benefits service provider, Reward Gateway, as a foundational member of the Executive Leadership Team in 2014, Rob held ultimate responsibility for customer success and operations. During his tenure, the Company grew from 150 to over 1000 employees, supporting 4,000 business clients with 8 million employees, in 44 countries. Together with the ELT, Rob oversaw three private equity exits and the Company’s sale to Edenred in 2023 for $1.15 billion.

Commenting on the path ahead, Rob said, “In all my years in the global employee benefits industry, I’ve felt there was a gaping hole in support for SMES, micro businesses, and the gig economy. Despite forming the backbone of our economy, many simply can’t afford to purchase the kind of benefits packages afforded to employees of large companies, and it’s an injustice that needs correcting.

“In pirkx, I’ve finally found a viable solution - a wonderfully intuitive platform offering flexible and affordable benefits such as access to 24/7 private GP appointments, gym memberships, counselling, and so much more, for less than £5 per person, per month. The mission and team are inspirational and I am looking forward to putting my experience to work, helping them make a difference during challenging times.”

Stella Smith, Founder and CEO, pirkx, added “Rob’s endorsement of pirkx is a pinch-me moment. With over 5 million SMEs in the UK alone, we know there is a huge market for our services and, with the global economic environment making personal and professional conditions very difficult, their people need to be looked after with health and wellbeing support.

“Rob’s operational and customer skills will be invaluable as we cement ourselves worldwide as the long-overdue answer to this problem!”

About pirkx

We wanted to create something affordable which brought wellbeing benefits to everyone, whether self-employed, part of a company, or for a client. We founded pirkx because until then, only employees of corporates got access to any kind of wellbeing benefits. Just as important to us was making pirkx affordable for everyone, so we created an awesome benefits package at a super low cost. And with pirkx, there is no minimum contract length.

Media contact

Georgie Rudkin

georgie@galeneandpartners.com

+44 7584 243641