1. Startups

Receive Funding 79 Billion Rupiah, Wagely Ambitious to Reach 250 Thousand Employees Receive Early Salary Access

The initial funding stage was led by Integra Partners, participated by ADB Ventures, PT Triputra Trihill Capital, 1982 Ventures, and Willy Suwandi Dharma

Total population underbanked in Indonesia is the largest in Southeast Asia. Millions of low- and middle-income workers struggle to cover unexpected expenses each month, putting significant financial pressure on their incomes.

Tobias Fischer, Sasanadi Ruka, and Kevin Hausburg wanted to address this issue by establishing wagely in March 2020 in Jakarta. The three backgrounds from the digital industry round out Wagely's vision and mission which wants to provide financial welfare to employees by providing access to early salaries to pay for their needs.

Fischer had worked at Grab Financial Group, Capital Match, ADB, and Rocket Internet. Meanwhile, Ruka previously worked at Tokopedia, Jenius, AWS, and HappyFresh. Meanwhile, Hausburg has strong experience in digital marketing for many global companies.

In a joint interview DailySocialFisher explains that Wagely helps businesses increase the productivity, engagement and loyalty of their workforce by offering employees an innovative financial benefits platform to access earned wages and financial education.

Employees can withdraw up to 50% of the company's accrued wages instantly and on demand to their payroll bank account. The funds are used to help them pay for unexpected expenses and emergencies. Wagely provides an affordable flat fee per withdrawal with no hidden fees or interest. Hence, Fisher assesses wagely in accordance with the sharia concept.

“Wagely has a unique approach in that it does not provide loans to employees but only access to wages that have worked. Therefore, Wagely does not require any underwriting and is open to all employees in a company,” he said.

It is said that currently Wagely has partnered with more than 50 companies, the majority of them are global and national companies. The names are British American Tobacco, Ranch Market, Mustika Ratu, and others. As many as tens of thousands of employees from all of these partners have been served with early salary access.

Wagely / wagely app mockup

Get early stage funding

At the same time, a year into operation, Wagely officially announced the acquisition of an early-stage funding of $5,6 million (over 79 billion Rupiah) led by Integra Partners (formerly known as Dymon Asia Ventures). There were a number of investors who participated in this round, namely Asian Development Bank (ADB) Ventures, PT Triputra Trihill Capital, 1982 Ventures, Willy Suwandi Dharma (former President Director of Adira Dinamika Insurance), and others.

Fisher as CEO of Wagely said that the fresh funds will be used to accelerate the adoption of the Wagely platform to more employees. It is targeted to attract more than 250 thousand employees as users this year. According to him, providing healthy and affordable solutions to emergency cash flow problems is only the first step towards building long-term financial health.

“Ensuring long-term financial well-being means building a holistic platform that offers workers access to affordable services, encourages financial responsibility, and provides a pathway to financial stability and inclusion, with access to earned wages at the core and seamlessly integrated features. We are committed to building a complete ecosystem that builds and protects the future financial sustainability of employees in Southeast Asia.”

In an official statement, Partner Integra Partners Christiaan Kaptein said, “The investment and participation of several Indonesian family conglomerates underscores Wagely's leadership role in financial soundness and its ability to build sustainable and responsible businesses by taking advantage of the vast financial services market opportunities in Southeast Asia, " he said.

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ADB Ventures Senior Fund Manager Daniel Hersson added, “This investment underscores our belief that Wagely has what it takes to mainstream financial inclusion and literacy in Indonesia. wagely offers workers what they didn't have before: fair and accessible financial tools to help them manage contingencies and inevitable emergencies, including those caused by climate change."

The presence of Earned Wage Access (EWA) platforms such as Wagely in Indonesia already exists GajiGesa began to attract the attention of many investors because of the potential it offered. EWA solutions provide companies with the opportunity to reduce turnover, increase employee productivity, and increase business savings.

In the United States, there was Dailypay who got funding that brought them to unicorn status. Softbank also already has a portfolio of startups named Payactiv, Jeff Bezon and Bill Gates (Wagestream and Minu), and Peter Thiel (Even).

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