1. Startups

EWA Fintech Startup “Now” Receives 64 Billion Rupiah Funds Led by East Ventures

Other investors involved in the Now seed round include Ten13, OurCrowd, K50 Ventures, and Goodwater Capital

Startups fintech solution provider earned wage access (EWA) has now announced a $4,3 million (over 64 billion Rupiah) early-stage funding round led by East Ventures, with participation from other investors, such as Ten13, OurCrowd, K50 Ventures, and Goodwater Capital.

Interestingly, this is East Ventures' second portfolio in the EWA vertical, after investing in Wagely in March 2022.

Will now use the new funds to build a product line HR-tech, expand partnerships, and provide HR technology to power solutions HR-fintech them through a single API.

“We are excited to partner with East Ventures and all of our investors. Their support will accelerate our mission to create a better life for 99% of workers in Indonesia, especially for workers who live paycheck to paycheck,” said Jordan Fain, Co-Founder & CEO of Kini in an official statement, Thursday (7/7). .

Kini was founded in 2021 by Fain with Sidnei Budiman (CTO), veteran fintech in Indonesia. Thanks to his experience at Uber, Fain realized that tightening the pay cycle for drivers increased retention and acquisitions. Therefore, he believes Kini can be useful in empowering businesses, especially when managing a blue-collar workforce on a large scale.

In Southeast Asia alone, especially in Indonesia, there are millions of blue-collar workers who are still underbanked, live paycheck to paycheck, and have limited access to credit, making them vulnerable to predatory lending from lenders.

“The need for financial inclusion for the Indonesian people is more important than ever. We believe in Kini's mission to revolutionize the way millions of workers manage their money to achieve better financial health. We believe that the Kini team can be the right partner for many companies in Indonesia,” said East Ventures Partner Melisa Irene.

It is claimed, Now able to print an average monthly transaction volume growth of 70% with partners of more than 50 companies. Some of the usernames are Ismaya Group, Asaba, DOKU, and others; including public companies. The company has also been integrated with various HRIS (Human Resources Information System). The total team now consists of only 10 people.

EWA business model

Like most other EWA players, Now provides salary service on-demand (EWA) to help employees of corporate partners manage their finances. They can use this faster salary disbursement to pay bills, buy microinsurance.

Now also adding other features intended for company HRD, including instant disbursement of incentives or benefits, voucher discounts, telecommunications, payroll services, API integration, API integration with HR information systems, and employee time tracking systems.

Unlike which applies interest as revenue streams, EWA has a different approach. For quick pay disbursement services themselves, they use fees flat for a predetermined nominal amount. For example, what is done now by wearing admin fees IDR 30 thousand for every IDR 1,2 million of salary disbursed.

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Apart from that, as a startup targeting the B2B segment, usually the EWA platform also has revenue streams others, for example from fee for the use of HR-tech platforms, APIs, and built-in payments (such as bill payments, QR payments etc).

Funding from VC for EWA startup

Apart from Now, there are already a number of companies that are interested in working on a similar concept in Indonesia. Some of the names, there are GajiGesa, wagely, Gigacover, GajiKoin carried by KoinWorks, Vinmo, Mekari Flex, Halogaji from Halofina, GetPaid, and Gajiku. The majority of these players are already supported in the form of investments from VCs. Here's the list:

StartupsSinceLast fundingInvestor
GajiGesa2020Pre-Series A ($6,6 million)MassMutual Ventures, January Capital, Wagestream, OCBC NISP Ventura, Bunda Group, Patrick Walujo, Nipun Mehram, etc.
wagely2020Pre-Series A ($8,3 million)East Ventures (Growth Fund), Central Capital Venture, Integra partners, ADB, FGC, Trihill Capital, etc.
Gigacover2020 (entered Indonesia)Early stages (2019)Vectr Fintech, Quest Ventures Partners, Alto Partners, etc
SalaryCoins2020Through KoinWorks, Series C ($43 million equity and $65 million debt)MDI Ventures, Quona Capital, Triodos Investment Management, ACV, EV, etc
VinmoSeptember 2021--
Mekari Flex2020Through Mekari, advanced stage ($50 million)Money Forward Inc, East Ventures, Beenect, MCI, Alto Partners, Prastia, etc.
halogajiAugust 2021Early stages (2019)MCI, Finch Capita, Plug and Play Asia Pacific, Partners
GetPaidSeptember 2021 (entered Indonesia)Initial stage ($1,15 million)Grovey Pay and Nityo Infotech Service
my salaryJanuary 2022Initial stage ($1,1 million)AC Ventures, Agung Ventures, Monk's Hill Ventures Scouts Program, Sampoerna, etc.
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