Indonesian startup Lumina, a job community platform for blue-collar workers, announced Monday the company is now backed by Y Combinator (YC) and Alpha JWC Ventures.
With the funding, Lumina plans to triple the size of its engineering team where the company aspires to build a world class team of mission-driven technologists, Lumina said in a statement.
“This funding will help unlock Lumina’s potential to bring change to Indonesia’s labor force and we believe the Lumina team is the right one to take on this challenge,” said Gustaf Alstromer, Group Partner of Y Combinator, adding that Lumina has joined the huge alumni network of YC’s – including Airbnb, Stripe, and Dropbox.
Meanwhile, Lumina Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Aswin Andrison said that blue-collar workers in Indonesia are severely underserved, and they lack access to career and development resources that can provide them with better economic opportunities.
“We, at Lumina, are eager to provide them with an effective platform for development and advancement. By leveraging the power of our immersive community and artificial intelligence (AI)-based job recommendations, we aim to democratise hiring and automate quality matching between blue-collar workers and employers,” he added.
The Jakarta-headquartered startup was co-founded in September 2021 by Andrison, who is a veteran entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in product, operations and market expertise in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), grocery and micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Together with Aswin, ex-Twitter’s Tri Ahmad Irfan is also at the helm of Lumina as the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer.
According to the statement, within two months, Lumina has brought on more than 100,000 job seekers and 20,000 jobs from thousands of companies including Shopee, Lemonilo, Sirclo, Kargo and Astro, among others. In addition, the platform is seeing strong traction with 1,000 new daily user sign-ups and 3,000 new daily jobs added.
“At Lumina, we believe that our team of young engineers is crucial in carrying out our mission to empower millions of blue-collar workers. We strive to provide a true environment of a fast-growing startup ideal for learning and improving,” said Tri Ahmad Irfan.
Aimed at helping 80-120 million blue-collar workers in Indonesia to access opportunities through an easy-to-use, community-based recruiting and benefits platform, Lumina is the first platform to provide Indonesia’s working class with a professional community and a support network.
These workers are able to experience a tech-driven end-to-end solution that includes a streamlined interview process and a community forum where they can interact with fellow job seekers. It is a trusted, hassle- and worry-free solution that reduces the amount of paperwork applicants need to prepare and replaces long waiting times and application follow-ups with simple, progress notifications. Applicants will also be relieved from the burden of having to look for jobs in multiple locations and platforms.
“We believe Lumina will play a crucial role in maximizing the work force and potential of individuals as well as businesses. We are excited to work together with Aswin and his team again; and we are looking forward to helping realize their vision,” said Jefrey Joe, Co-Founder and General Partner, Alpha JWC Ventures.
According to the statement, Lumina plans to be a one-stop shop for workers, where they can upskill and contribute to organizations that they believe in and are proud to work for, while developing meaningful relationships with fellow job seekers.
Founded by Aswin Andrison and Tri Ahmed Irfan, Lumina is a fast-growing job community platform for the working class. With its highly engaged community, Lumina helps tens of thousands of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) recruit suitable workers. Amassing hundreds of thousands of engaged job seekers, Lumina aims to revolutionize the blue and grey collar recruitment space where business owners can tap into suitable talents, fast and easy. The platform’s name “Lumina” comes from the word “light” – a testament to the co-founders’ wish to “be the light for underserved workers when all other lights go out”.
Y Combinator is a startup fund based in Mountain View, California. In 2005, Y Combinator developed a new model of startup funding. Twice a year, they invest a small amount of money in a large number of startups. The startups move to Silicon Valley for 3 months, and the YC partners work closely with each company to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each batch culminates in Demo Day when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected audience of investors. Y Combinator has invested in over 3,000 companies including Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Reddit, Instacart, Docker and Gusto. The combined valuation of YC companies is over $300 billion.
Alpha JWC Ventures is an early to growth-stage Southeast Asian venture capital firm. Its debut fund was launched in 2016 as Indonesia’s first independent and institutional early-stage venture capital fund. Over the years, Alpha JWC has established a strong reputation and clear positioning in the market as the leading venture capital firm with one of the region’s largest on-the-ground teams and a global network. The firm currently manages around $630 million asset under management (AUM) – the largest early-stage fund in Southeast Asia – and 57 active portfolio companies across Southeast Asia.