GajiGesa, an Indonesian financial wellness platform, announced today it has raised US$2.5 million in a seed funding round, co-led by Silicon Valley-based Defy.vc and Quest Ventures.
GK Plug and Play, Next Billion Ventures, Alto Partners, Kanmo Group and multiple strategic angel investors also participated.
As per the company, the fresh funds will be used to expand its platform in Indonesia while also scaling its tech team in Jakarta.
GajiGesa was launched in 2020 by the husband-wife duo of Vidit Agrawal and Martyna Malinowska. Agrawal was the first Uber employee in Asia and previously the COO of automotive marketplace startup Carro. Malinowska was previously at Standard Chartered and Singapore-based fintech startup LenddoEFL.
GajiGesa’s fintech platform provides companies and their employees the tools to streamline their cash-flow by offering financial services, including Earned Wage Access (EWA), financial literacy content and bill payments.
Since its launch four months ago, GajiGesa claims it has partnered with over 30 employers and serves over 10,000 employees in Indonesia.
Also Read: Why consumers’ financial wellness is the social responsibility of fintech players
The Jakarta-based startup works with companies by integrating into their existing HR and payroll systems to ensure “hyper-efficient and immediate onboarding”. This provides employees and employers more flexibility and control over their money.
GajiGesa’s noted its app allows employees to track their earnings, access their earned wages and pay bills, among other uses. For employers, the platform allows HR teams to measure the effectiveness of financial well-being strategies and get visibility over engagement, productivity, and employee financial health.
“At GajiGesa, we’re building financial resilience at scale. EWA is crucial to increasing the short-term financial wellness of Indonesian workers by eliminating their dependence on loan sharks or other informal and expensive sources of capital,” said Agarwal.
“We’re giving hundreds of thousands of employees the tools and awareness to reach their financial goals with peace of mind. For employer partners, we help3 improve employee retention, productivity, and cash-flow,” he added.
“The lack of access to fair and honest financial services continues to be a critical problem in emerging markets. The vast majority of the 129 million workers in Indonesia remain underbanked,” commented Bob Rosin, Partner at Defy.vc.
Also Read: How fintech can help reach the unbanked and underbanked in Southeast Asia
“GajiGesa’s financial wellness platform is helping middle to low-income workers who live paycheck to paycheck deal with stressful cash-flow issues. It provides much needed financial stability for employers and their employees during a time of unprecedented and continued economic uncertainty,” said Yiping Goh, Partner at Quest Ventures.
According to BPS (Statistics Indonesia) data, there are approximately 129 million workers in Indonesia, many of whom regularly face increased financial stress and hardship because of cash flow constraints, traditional monthly payment schedules, unexpected expenses, and limited financial access.
The World Bank Findex estimates over 70 per cent of Indonesians borrow from informal sources, often with extortionate interest rates and undesirable terms.
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Image Credit: GajiGesa
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