Enliven EWA Services, Halofina Presents “Haloji” for Company Employees

List of startups that penetrated segment earned wage access (EWA) in Indonesia continues to grow, this time it was Halofina's turn to present Halogaji. In fact, this solution has been around since August 2021 and is starting to become the company's main focus. This can be seen from all resources being diverted for Halogaji development, rather than the Halofina application, which is known to have not had the latest update in both the App Store and Play Store.

To DailySocial.id, Co-Founder & CEO of Halofina Adjie Wicaksana explained, his company's interest in starting Halogaji is evident from the fact that currently there are still many segments of society who are struggling to cope cash flow daily. This often results in them being forced to take loans to non-bank institutions with high interest rates.

“We see this segment is big and so something we need to provide solutions. Based on our internal research, EWA could be an option that can help cash flow and avoid people from high-interest loans,” he explained.

Just like other EWA startups, access to early salary disbursement is intended for employees who have been registered by the company. Each withdrawal will not be charged with interest, but an administrative fee. A striking difference from Halogaji is the application of the sharia concept to the entire process, from the contract to the source of funds.

“Employees can view balance Libra which reflects how many working days have been carried out. Then, you can withdraw the salary through the application. The source of funds can be from companies or third parties from Halogaji who provide short-term bailouts."

There is no mention of the current number of Halogaji users. However, Adjie said that his business growth increased by 130% on a monthly basis since it was first launched. The target users are not limited to any economy class. Although currently the company is targeting employees from the lower-middle economy, in the future it will expand to the upper-middle through the Smart Savings feature.

This step at the same time makes Halogaji no longer an EWA, but as an employee financial wellness because it encourages people to regularly save which is directly integrated with their salary. Users can get financial benefits up to four times when compared to bank deposit interest.

"So not only with EWA for emergency funds, employees can build better savings habits through the latest features that we will release at the end of the first quarter."

He believes the potential for EWA growth in Indonesia will be much faster than now, given the large lower-middle working population. This condition is reflected in the same conditions in the global market, EWA players are also booming seeing the working population continues to grow. Therefore, so that EWA continues to be in line with the needs of users, Adjie sees the main key is building an ecosystem.

"By building an ecosystem, where payment needs and purchases of goods and services can be integrated, making it easier for users to use their salary allocations for daily needs."

Plan a new funding round

With this new line, Halofina plans to open a fresh fundraising event to be more expansive in building its products. "Still not sure about the scheme, but the plan is to fundraising at the end of the first quarter."

The company last announced its initial funding with an undisclosed amount in 2019. The round was led by Mandiri Capital Indonesia, with participation from Finch Capital, Plug and Play Asia Pacific, and Rekanext.

Historically, EWA players have only been present in Indonesia since the pandemic. All players have pocketed fresh funding from investors. Here's the full list: