wagely raises US$5.6m in strategic round

Jakarta-based financial wellness platform wagely announced on 9 June that it has raised US$5.6 million in a strategic investment round led by Integra Partners (formerly known as Dymon Asia Ventures) with participation from ADB Ventures (the Asian Development Bank's venture arm), PT Triputra Investindo Arya (one of Indonesia's largest privately held groups), Global Founders Capital, Trihill Capital, 1982 Ventures, Willy Suwandi Dharma (former President Director of PT Asuransi Adira Dinamika), and others.

wagely was founded in 2020 by former Grab and Tokopedia executives Tobias Fischer, now its CEO, and Sasanadi Ruka, now its CTO, with the objective of letting lower and middle-income workers access their earned but as-yet-unpaid wages immediately, without having to wait for a fixed payday.

Fischer said of the startup's mission: “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.”

These workers, he said, frequently take overdrafts or high-interest credit to manage their expenses in between and end up in a debt trap. By allowing them to access their pay in real time, the founders believe, workers will not need to rely so heavily on these costly loans.

Daniel Hersson, Senior Fund Manager at ADB Ventures, said: "Our investment affirms our conviction that wagely has what it takes to mainstream financial inclusion and literacy in Indonesia. wagely offers workers what they did not have before: a fair and accessible financial tool to help them manage life's inevitable contingencies and emergencies, including those caused by climate change."

The fresh funding will be used to accelerate the adoption of wagely's platform, which is currently used by at least 50 large enterprises.