Jakarta, Gizmologi – The wagely platform, which is engaged in financial health, managed to raise an additional USD 8.3 million or around Rp. 119 billion in its pre-series A funding round. Through this fundraiser, they will seek to help workers in the regions of Indonesia and Bangladesh access a portion of their salary, to need an emergency fund.
The oversubscribed round was led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) with participation from current backing investors, including Integra Partners, Asian Development Bank, Global Founders Capital, Trihill Capital, Blauwpark Partners, and 1982 Ventures. The total funds raised reached 14 million dollars in less than two years.
“With wagely’s rapid growth in recent quarters, we believe that wagely will be the partner of choice for many large companies committed to making a difference in the financial well-being of workers in Indonesia and beyond,” said Roderick Purwana, Managing Partner of East Ventures, Wednesday (16/3/2022).
“We are passionate about supporting Tobias, Didi, Kevin and the Wagely team, as they have improved the lives of millions of workers across Asia, where more than 75 percent of the population live and depend on paycheck to paycheck,” said Roderick.
The pre-series A funding comes just months after Wagely expanded into Bangladesh, which is home to the world’s 7th largest labor producer. The CEO and Co-Founder of Wagely said this funding will help employers get instant access to salaries in reducing costs, increasing productivity, and providing worker welfare.
Wagely Platform Helps Workers Raise Emergency Fund
This new capital acquisition will support Wagely in accelerating its position as a market leader in Indonesia and Bangladesh in the financial health category, especially EWA, and spur the development of a holistic financial wellbeing platform, which will be launched later this year.
wagely also revealed that the company has secured support from Central Capital Venture, a venture capital firm from Indonesia’s largest private bank, Bank Central Asia (BCA). This investment in Wagely supports the commitment to expand the digital financial ecosystem and encourage financial welfare solutions throughout Indonesia.
Launched in 2020, Wagely is building a holistic financial welfare platform with the main solution in the form of Earned Wage Access (EWA) or what is often called ‘instant salary’. Wagely’s EWA product allows workers from wagely partner companies to access a portion of their wages in real-time, calculated from the total number of days they have worked.
This concept has proven successful in several world markets and has been adopted by leading organizations including Walmart, Pizza Hut, and Visa, to reduce employee turnover, increase productivity, and increase business cost savings.
Founded by former executives from Grab and Tokopedia, Wagely has proven aggressive growth across its markets, with its user base growing 10-fold (YoY) from 2021. This growth is also supported by partnerships with Indonesia’s largest companies including the British. American Tobacco, Ranch Market, Adaro Energy, and Medco Energi.
The ongoing pandemic situation is exacerbating the economic conditions faced by low- and middle-income workers, so many companies need solutions to help ease the financial stress of many of their workers.
The Indonesian version of this article can be read inGizmologi.ID