wagely Announces 119 Billion Rupiah Pre-Series A Funding Led by East Ventures

After announcing an initial $5,6 million in funding in the middle of last year, Wagely's Earned Wage Access (EWA) platform has now announced a pre-series A funding round. This time it's worth $8,3 million. East Ventures (Growth Fund) led this funding with the participation of Central Capital Ventures, Integra Partners, Asian Development Bank, Global Founders Capital, Trihill Capital, Blauwpark Partners and 1982 Ventures.

Of all the existing rounds, the total funds that were collected wagely reached $14 million -- in less than 2 years.

As known, wagely service allows company employees to disburse their salaries early for various urgent matters. Apart from Indonesia, they also serve the Bangladesh market.

Since 2021, Wagely claims to grow up to 10x yoy. This growth is supported by partnerships with a number of large companies in Indonesia including 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.

EWA Platform in Indonesia

Various EWA services have emerged lately, ranging from specific startups such as Wagely, Gajiku, GajiGesa, Now, and GetPaid; to sub services of the platform fintechhalogaji (Halofina), KoinGaji (KoinWorks), and Flex (Mekari).

All goals are the same, giving workers flexibility to access their paychecks early. We have discussed more details about the origins of EWA services in this article: The Earned Wage Access Concept Normalizes Advance Payments.

Wagely's EWA product allows workers from wagely partner companies to access a portion of their wages on a regular basis real-time which is calculated from the total number of days they have worked. This concept is considered to have proven successful in several world markets and has been adopted by several leading organizations including Walmart, Pizza Hut, and Visa, to reduce employee turnover, increase productivity and increase business cost savings.

"We are proud to have successfully operated in two of the largest markets in the Asian region employing more than 150 million workers. Instant access to salaries is now playing an important role for employers in reducing costs, increasing productivity and providing welfare for workers," said Co- Founder & CEO Wagely Tobias Fischer.

East Ventures Managing Partner Roderick Purwana, said, “With wagely's rapid growth in recent quarters, we believe 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. 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% of the population live and depend on paycheck to paycheck.”