Indonesia’s On-Demand Workforce Platform Sampingan Secures US$1.5m

Sampingan, an Antler-backed Indonesian on-demand workforce startup, has raised US$1.5 million in its pre-Series A funding round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures.

Antler, the Singapore-based venture builder, is participating in the round, along with several angel investors, according to a statement issued by the startup.

Sampingan, which entered the market in January of this year, said it will use the fresh capital to expand its operations and provide businesses in Indonesia with wider scalability options.

[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”block” ihc_mb_who=”unreg” ihc_mb_template=”1″ ]

Sampingan operates a platform that provides thousands of Indonesians with jobs across the country. Born out of Antler’s startup generator program, the company aims to give Indonesians equal access to jobs.

According to a report cited by the company, Indonesia sees 16 percent of its current work activities replaced with automation by 2030. Automation, along with the country’s average minimum monthly wage of only US$250 is leading most Indonesians to do side jobs to make ends meet.

“A Sampingan super-user can earn up to US$650 per month, almost three times the average wage,” the startup said.

The platform focuses on jobs such as sales, data collection, distribution and collection, and dispatch. This innovative approach, according to Sampingan, is able to save businesses up to 70 percent of their manpower costs.

“Equal access to jobs gives our agent-partners more control in their lives. More control means more time; more time to spend with their families and more time to become better versions of themselves. We want to use Sampingan to enable this kind of positive change,” says Wisnu Nugrahadi, CEO of Sampingan.

Nugrahadi has worked with GO-JEK before taking the leap into entrepreneurship.

Justin Hall, partner at lead investor Golden Gate Ventures, said Sampingan offers a really intriguing value proposition: the ability to launch large-scale, labor-intensive campaigns economically, quickly, and effectively across Indonesia.

“Golden Gate Ventures is excited to partner with Wisnu and the team and we expect to see amazing things coming out of this company over the next few years,” he said.

[/ihc-hide-content]