Venture Capitalists Eye Earned Wage Access Startups

The venture capital's desire to acquire startups seems endless. This time, Wagely, the Indonesian earned wage access (EWA) platform, managed to raise US$8.3 million or Rp 119 billion in a pre-Series A funding round, led by East Ventures Growth Fund. Other participating investors were Central Capital Ventura, Asian Development Bank, Integra Partners, Global Founders Capital, Trihill Capital, Blauwpark Partners, and 1982 Ventures. As quoted from DailySocial, Wagely has raised US$14 million in less than two years.

In essence, the platform allows employees to withdraw their salaries early for various urgent matters. Apart from operating in Indonesia, Wagely has also expanded into the Bangladesh market. For the record, Wagely was founded by former executives of Grab and Tokopedia in 2020, but it managed to record a ten-fold growth in its user base by 2021. Wagely has also partnered with several large companies, such as British American Tobacco, Ranch Market, Adaro Energy, and Medco Energi.