Gajiku, an Indonesian on-demand payroll and people management solution provider, announced Thursday the completion of a $1.1 million seed round of financing led by AC Ventures, with participation from Agung Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures Scouts Program, Sampoerna, as well as several influential Indonesian entrepreneurs and angel investors.
Gajiku said in a statement that with this round of financing, it plans to focus on product development to roll out new services and features for employers, drive sales and business development to bring on new clients with a focus on large enterprises, and increase headcount across all functions.
It said that Gajiku will continue to operate with a strict focus on the Indonesia market as it rolls out to more major employers throughout the archipelago.
“Indonesia’s blue collar workforce is filled with immense potential, given the right tools and opportunity to thrive. With more businesses looking to Indonesia as part of the global supply chain, we are working with employers to improve employee management, while also ensuring that their employees are in the best financial position for success. By alleviating workers’ financial stress, we can increase the competitiveness of the Indonesian workforce and make a difference in people’s lives,” said Sherman Tanuwidjaja, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gajiku.
Founded in January 2021, Gajiku is an on-demand payroll and people management solution provider that allows employees to access salary on-demand through an employer-centric approach. Working closely with employers, Gajiku offers a full suite of employee management processes for attendance, payroll disbursal, and key performance indicator (KPI) tracking, helping employers digitize their human resource and accounting operations. The company generally works with larger employers, such as major Indonesian retail and manufacturing companies, averaging more than 1,500 employees per client. 90% of Gajiku’s registered employees transact at least once a month through partnerships with Indonesian conglomerates and enterprises.
Gajiku is typically used by labor intensive enterprises that hire thousands of blue-collar workers, the majority of whom are considered underbanked and may work in informal arrangements. Low financial literacy among Indonesia’s blue-collar workers has made them particularly vulnerable to loan sharks and other predatory lenders. These workers may be living paycheck-to-paycheck or prone to disappearing on the job due to immense financial pressure. By offering Gajiku’s on-demand payroll services, employers can provide a lifeline to employees, helping them relieve financial pressure and reduce employee turnover. By rolling up earned wage access with human resources and financing services, Gajiku is able to provide a full suite of services that improves business efficiency, reduces employee turnover, and provides financial well-being for Indonesia’s working class.
Gajiku is led by a team of seasoned entrepreneurs, including Sherman Tanuwidjaja, who has years of experience developing enterprise technology with a focus on HR solutions for major clients including Temasek; and Herry Gunawan (Chief Technology Officer), who has stints as Head of Engineering at Ruangguru and Lead Engineer at Tokopedia. Members of Gajiku’s core management team also hail from major human resources tech players in Indonesia.
“As Indonesian workers are often signed on informal arrangements, employee management is a major priority for businesses in improving efficiency and reducing turnover. We believe that Gajiku’s employer-centric approach will enable them to positively impact the largest number of employees through earned wage access and potentially other financial services,” said Adrian Li, Founder and Managing Partner at AC Ventures.
“We are excited to support the Gajiku team as they change the way large enterprises manage their employees in Indonesia,” he added.
AC Ventures is a Southeast Asian Venture Capital Firm investing in early-stage startups focused on the Indonesia and ASEAN markets. AC Ventures’ mission is to partner and empower entrepreneurs with more than capital, combining operational experience, industry knowledge, deep local networks, and resources to create value. Our vision is to be a generational partner to founders driving positive societal change and economic impact to Indonesia and beyond through technology-enabled ventures.
AC Ventures manages over $380 million in asset under management (AUM) invested across four funds. Since 2012, AC Ventures’ Partners have invested in over 100 technology companies in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, including some of the most iconic names in the SEA digital ecosystem. AC Ventures’ Founding Partners, Adrian Li, Michael Soerijadji, and Pandu Sjahrir, lead a team of over 25 professionals with offices in Jakarta and Singapore.