Wagely Has Raised $8.3 Million in Funding 

Wagely has announced raising $8.3 million or Tk 71 crore in an oversubscribed pre-series A funding. The financial wellness platform helps workers access their earned salaries on demand. It has already developed a validated product and attracted a substantial user base.

Wagely Has Raised $8.3 Million in Funding

East Ventures has raised an additional $2.5 million (Tk 120 crore) in funding for its operations in Indonesia and Bangladesh. The round was led by East Ventures and participated by existing backers, including Integra Partners, Asian Development Bank, Trihill Capital and Blauwpark Partners.

 “Our solution provides the money that an employee already earns,” 

Says Rameez Hoque, managing director, wagely Bangladesh. For example, if a customer applies for the fund support on a day of the month, he will get a portion from his earned money.

“Only 50 per cent of the earned salary can be withdrawn as we think the user shouldn’t spend all of this money before the payment of the salary,” he said.

Instead of banking charges and interests, the customers pay a flat fee anywhere from Tk 50 to Tk 100 for availing the money.

“We will soon offer our service to many other companies, including non-RMG ones,”

he added.

Employers avail wagely services, in a way, to offer employee benefits and this improves retention, productivity and wellbeing, according to Hoque.

In Bangladesh, 4.22 million workers in the RMG industry alone suffer due to the lack of support in cash flow timing, said a wagely statement.

More than 70 per cent of workers among them either borrow or opt for informal loans in order to afford basic necessities that puts them in a vicious circle of the debt trap, it added

Roderick Purwana, managing partner of East Ventures, stated, 

“With wagely’s rapid growth in recent quarters, we believe they will be the preferred partner for large enterprises that aim to challenge the status quo of worker financial wellness in Indonesia and beyond,”.

The CEO and co-founder at Wagely, Tobias Fischer notified, 

“We are proud to be successfully operating in two of the largest markets in Asia, employing more than 150 million workers,” 

Wagely is said to have partnered with some of Indonesia’s largest employers, including British American Tobacco. Launched in Indonesia in 2020, it was launched in Bangladesh in October 2021. Till now, it has four customers — RMG companies SQ Group, Vision Group, International Classic Composite and Desh Garments.