Kredivo takes over GajiGesa in $12m deal: source

Kredivo, the buy now, pay later firm under fintech unicorn FinAccel, announced yesterday that it has acquired Indonesian earned-wage access (EWA) startup GajiGesa. A source familiar with the matter told Tech in Asia that the deal is valued at about US$12 million.

This includes the company’s equity value, cash on hand, and the amount paid out to investors.

Kredivo and GajiGesa declined to comment when asked for confirmation.

After the acquisition, GajiGesa will operate as a separate brand within Kredivo Group. In a media statement, the group said that it sees the EWA startup as a “complementary” addition to its existing businesses, which include digital consumer credit (Kredivo) and digital banking (Krom).

Discussions about a potential acquisition began in March 2024 when GajiGesa approached Kredivo for a partnership, the source said. GajiGesa was understood to be seeking a funding partner for its salary disbursements when Kredivo made the offer, driven by the BNPL firm’s interest in expanding into B2B services.

Founded in 2020 by Vidit Agrawal and Martyna Malinowska, GajiGesa partners with companies to offer employees early access to their wages so that they wouldn’t have to resort to predatory loans. The startup serves over 350,000 employees across 400 enterprises.

(From left) GajiGesa co-founders Vidit Agarwal and Martyna Malinowska with Indonesia general manager Ade Yuandah Saragih / Photo credit: GajiGesa

The EWA startup has raised a total of US$9.1 million in funding from investors including MassMutual Ventures, Wagestream, OCBC Ventura, and Quest Ventures.

Over the years, GajiGesa has introduced other services like utility payments, phone credit purchases, and gold investments. However, its main revenue comes from either flat or percentage-based transaction fees employees pay to access their wages early.

According to the source, GajiGesa faced hurdles in expanding and scaling its model, similar to other EWA firms. One option was to expand into higher-margin products such as lending, but that would likely have required acquiring a company to secure a lending license.

Shifting into lending would have also run counter to EWA’s mission of helping employees avoid borrowing altogether.

See also: Expanding EWA startups are gobbling up debt financing

To achieve sustainable unit economics, many EWA startups rely on debt financing because they need upfront capital to cover early salary withdrawals before employers reimburse them on scheduled paydays. 

However, most debt providers require companies to also raise substantial equity – often in the range of half the amount of debt raised – which has become increasingly difficult for EWA firms in recent years, the source noted.