Wagely banks $23m to widen earned-wage access reach in Indonesia, Bangladesh

The Wagely Indonesia team / Photo credit: Wagely

After hitting 1 million salary disbursements since its launch four years ago, Indonesia-based Wagely announced it has secured US$23 million in new funding. This is the largest investment bagged by an earned-wage access (EWA) company in the country to date, Wagely said.

Capria Ventures, a VC firm specializing in the global south, is leading the equity portion of the round. A notable private debt fund, which is expected to help Wagely expand its services in Indonesia and Bangladesh, also joined the round.

Since its launch in 2020, Wagely has been helping employees across its two markets collect their earned wages immediately after a day’s work, if they so choose.

In 2023 alone, Wagely has seen substantial activity, with over US$25 million in salaries paid out through nearly a million transactions, reaching half a million workers.

Dave Richards, managing partner at Capria Ventures, hinted that Wagely could tap generative AI for use cases such as document processing and local language communication with workers. The VC firm is mostly focused on applied genAI investments and has US$188 million in assets under management.

Integrating genAI could beef up Wagely’s arsenal as it goes up against EWA peers GajiGesa and Gajiku, which have over 200 and more than 100 client firms, respectively.

The fundraise also comes roughly a week after Wagely named its founder Kevin Hausburg as CEO. He replaces his co-founder Tobias Fischer, who held the top role for over four years.

See also: Is earned-wage access Indonesia’s latest hot ticket?