Jem, the WhatsApp-based workforce management platform for deskless teams, has raised an $8,4-million Series A funding round led by global fintech investor Quona Capital.
The investment will support Jem’s ongoing growth from an HR and benefits provider into a comprehensive AI-native workforce management platform, further enhancing its offering for frontline workers across Africa.
Quona led Jem’s $8,4-million Series A fundraise, alongside participation from University Tech Fund, E4E and a group of prominent angel investors, including former Old Mutual CEO, Iain Williamson.
Jem currently serves more than 250 000 employees across more than 200 companies, including Servest, Bidvest, McDonald’s, KFC, Seattle Coffee Company and Bootleggers. The company has grown revenue by more than 120% over the past year, as South African employers seek simpler ways to connect with, manage and support frontline workforces that do not operate from traditional desks.
Jem has intentionally repositioned itself from a provider initially known for earned wage access and HR tools into a broader workforce management ecosystem for deskless workers. The platform enables employers to connect, manage and reward workers through WhatsApp, a channel many operational employees utilise daily.
This funding will support the addition of more products and features, such as time-and-attendance, rostering, onboarding, Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP), and credit scores, as well as further business expansion.
“Many employers still run their workforces on a patchwork of legacy systems, from earned-wage-access point solutions to workforce communication tools. Jem replaces that patchwork with one platform, built on WhatsApp. We designed it to be engaging and to work for the realities of deskless workforces,” says Simon Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Jem.
Johan Bosini, venture partner at Quona Capital, stated that Jem’s WhatsApp-native platform has become the essential infrastructure employers need to communicate with, manage, and support their workforces: “We backed Jem because it sits at a powerful intersection: essential workforce software that helps companies build deeper relationships with their people.”
Bosini adds that Jem has already demonstrated strong commercial momentum and product-market fit, further reinforcing Quona’s conviction in the business.
“Jem’s WhatsApp-native platform is quickly becoming the most important infrastructure through which employers communicate with, manage, and reward their workforces. That creates the foundation for Jem to deliver a wider range of relevant services, including future payroll integration tools, mobile connectivity, insurance and other employee benefits to a user group that is largely inaccessible by traditional financial services,” explains Bosini. “The company has grown rapidly while maintaining exceptional retention, demonstrating that the platform is solving a meaningful and recurring problem,” he says.
Jem’s growth to date reflects strong customer demand, with recurring revenue more than doubling year on year, net revenue retention at 124%, and impressively almost zero customer churn. Founded in 2020 as SmartWage and rebranded as Jem in 2022, the company started with a simple idea: let employees draw wages they had already earned over WhatsApp, with money arriving within 90 minutes. It has since evolved into a comprehensive workforce management suite, including document management, onboarding, time and attendance, leave, workforce communication, and much more.
“We started Jem because a huge industry (payday lending) was profiting from employees struggling with cash flow, entirely outside the employer-employee relationship, and costing them roughly ten times more,” explains Caroline van der Merwe, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Jem combines employer-facing software that makes workforce management easier with employee-facing financial services that save employees money. “The HR tools create trusted, recurring engagement; the financial products then solve tangible employee needs. That combination is difficult to replicate because it requires strong technology, deep employer integration, regulatory discipline and the trust of employees,” adds Bosini. “The result is not merely a collection of products. It is an increasingly valuable distribution and operating layer between employers and their workforces.”
The platform is anchored by the Jem Hub, an AI-native rebuild of the company’s employer product that brings connecting, managing and rewarding a frontline team into one place, with deeper insights into a workforce than employers have ever had before.
“We’re incredibly excited to launch what we’re calling ‘Jem 2.0’ with a host of new products, some of which are already live and others which are in beta. We’ve created a waitlist for customers who want to be the first to gain access to these new tools and products, which can be found on the products page of our website,” says Ellis.