Indonesia’s wagely raises US$5.6mil in strategic round

• Funding to be used to accelerate adoption of wagely’s EWA platform
• Funding round led by Integra Partners; participation including ADB, Trihill, 1982 Ventures

JAKARTA-based financial wellness platform wagely announced that it has raised US$5.6 million in a strategic round of investment.

In a statement, the startup said the round is led by Integra Partners (formerly known as Dymon Asia Ventures), with participation from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Ventures, PT Triputra Investindo Arya, Global Founders Capital, Trihill Capital, 1982 Ventures, Willy Suwandi Dharma (former president director of PT Asuransi Adira Dinamika), and others.

Founded by chief executive officer Tobias Fischer and chief technology officer Sasanadi Ruka (former Grab and Tokopedia executives), wagely – which enables Earned Wage Access (EWA) to Indonesian workers – will use the investment to accelerate the adoption of its platform.

“More than 100 million Indonesian lower- and middle-income workers are living paycheck to paycheck and struggle with unexpected financial expenses between paychecks, which in turn impacts businesses with higher turnover, lower productivity, and more employee loans,” said Fischer.

“Our workplaces are changing rapidly, especially since Covid-19 struck. Now the way people are getting paid is changing too, and at scale. wagely provides a financial flexibility that is perfectly suited for today’s agile and progressive workforce,” he claimed.

In the past year, the company said wagely saw its partner network grow to more than 50 large enterprises that have already adopted the startup’s financial wellness solution, including PT Bentoel Internasional Investama Tbk. (British American Tobacco), PT Supra Boga Lestari Tbk (Ranch Market), PT Mustika Ratu Tbk, PT Kencana Energi Lestari Tbk, and others.

It estimates that it will reach over 250,000 Indonesian users in 2021, the company claimed.

According to Wilson Maknawi, president director at PT Kencana Energi Lestari, Tbk, wagely offers their employees financial stability in times of uncertainty.

“With no changes to our payroll process, wagely’s solution has proven to increase our business savings and helped our employees to avoid predatory loans while providing savings and budgeting tools that increase their financial literacy,” he said.

EWA, which allow workers to gain access to wages before their company's regular payday, has grown in popularity around the world due to Covid-19 uncertainties. Dailypay, a leading US-based EWA provider, just recently raised $500 million and reached unicorn status.

Other EWA providers are backed by Softbank, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates (Wagestream, UK; Minu, MEX), and Peter Thiel (Even, US). Payactiv already counts more than 2 million users and has processed more than $5 billion in Earned Wage Access, highlighting the tremendous potential of the space.

“The investment and participation of multiple renowned Indonesian family conglomerates underscores wagely’s leadership role in the financial wellness space and its ability to build a sustainable and responsible business tapping into the vast financial services market opportunity in Southeast Asia,” said Christiaan Kaptein, partner at Integra Partners.