South African startup in human resources and communications technologies, SmartWage, has raised $2 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Idris Bello (founder of LoftyInc Capital), Creator Collective Capital, and Penrose Capital, as well as angel investors.
According to Simon Ellis, CEO of SmartWage, no solution tackles the difficulty of interacting with a scattered workforce sufficiently, leaving firms unable to shift digitally.
“There is a chasm in communication. Frontline staff lack a sense of connection to a company’s identity and promise. Payslips and leave are still handled manually via paper printouts, while staff communication is handled via notice boards or apps, both of which experience significant utilization declines. Paper-based onboarding and disciplinary procedures continue to cost firms valuable time, money, and resources,” he asserts.
Read also UK’s Fintech Dapio in $3.4M Gets Backing From Flutterwave on Contactless Payments
SmartWage has developed a suite of financial wellness products that provide employees with the necessary financial support. These include complimentary financial education and pay-on-demand.
“Through our approach, we’ve discovered that employees require cash access more than ever before. 80% of South Africans struggle to make ends meet without resorting to some type of short-term debt, and the payday lending sector is thriving,’’ Ellis adds.
The company was founded in May 2020 and provides businesses with a simple yet effective method of digitizing human resource processes, saving time and money by enabling employees without email to receive company-wide communication, access their payslips, request leave, and access financial wellness products via WhatsApp.
Read also Meeula Launches Smart Business Card Solution in Nigeria
Seed money was obtained from a number of notable investors. Idris Bello is one of those investors. He founded LoftyInc Capital, a pan-African venture capital firm based in Nigeria, and was an early investment in Flutterwave and Andela, two of Africa’s tech unicorns.
Bello expressed excitement about the scalability of the SmartWage product suite and the potential impact it may have throughout Africa and beyond.
“The team at SmartWage are innovators; they recognize that in order to have a meaningful impact on employers, they must establish a compelling mechanism for companies to communicate with their workforce,” he explains. “We are thrilled to join forces with Simon, Caroline, and the formidable team they have formed to advance SmartWage’s aim of driving digital inclusion across Africa.”
Read also Capitec Bank Backs South African Payments Startup Lipa In $663K Round
Clients of SmartWage include businesses that use frontline staff in industries such as retail, quick service restaurants (QSR), manufacturing, construction, and hospitality. They’ve more than quadrupled their monthly active user base in the last year and now work with brands including Edgars, KFC, Debonairs, Seattle Coffee, Truda, and Twizza.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh