Johannesburg – South Africa-based workforce management platform Jem has raised $8.4 million (approximately R136 million) in a Series A funding round led by global fintech investor Quona Capital.
The investment will accelerate Jem’s evolution from an HR and benefits provider into a comprehensive AI-native workforce management ecosystem, specifically designed for the realities of frontline and deskless workers across Africa.
Quona led the round, with participation from the University Tech Fund, E4E, and a group of prominent angel investors, including former Old Mutual CEO, Iain Williamson.
The platform currently serves more than 250 000 employees across 200+ companies, including major brands such as Servest, Bidvest, McDonald’s, KFC, Seattle Coffee Company, and Bootleggers.
This rapid adoption is reflected in Jem’s financial performance, with revenue growing by more than 120% over the past year, fueled by South African employers seeking simpler ways to connect with and manage workforces that do not operate from traditional desks.
AI-Powered Evolution from EWA to Full-Suite WFM
Founded in 2020 as SmartWage and rebranded as Jem in 2022, the company initially focused on earned wage access—allowing employees to draw already-earned wages via WhatsApp within 90 minutes.
Today, it has strategically repositioned itself into a broader workforce management ecosystem.
This new funding will support the addition of more products and features, including time-and-attendance, rostering, onboarding, Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP), and credit scores, alongside further geographic business expansion.
Simon Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO at Jem, highlighted the platform’s unique value proposition, saying: “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.”
Why Quona Capital Backed Jem
Johan Bosini, Venture Partner at Quona Capital, emphasised the strategic importance of Jem’s infrastructure, noting its role in bridging the gap between employers and their staff.
“We backed Jem because it sits at a powerful intersection: essential workforce software that helps companies build deeper relationships with their people,” said Bosini.
Bosini further elaborated on the platform’s potential to reach underserved employee demographics.
“Jem’s WhatsApp-native platform is quickly becoming the most important infrastructure through which employers communicate with, manage, and reward their workforces,” said Bosini.
“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.
“The company has grown rapidly while maintaining exceptional retention, demonstrating that the platform is solving a meaningful and recurring problem.”
Exceptional Retention and Financial Metrics
Jem’s growth narrative is underscored by impressive operational metrics: recurring revenue has more than doubled year-on-year, net revenue retention stands at 124%, and the company boasts almost zero customer churn.
This resilience validates the company’s product-market fit in a competitive HR-tech landscape.
Reflecting on the company’s origin, Caroline van der Merwe, Co-Founder and COO, stated: “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.”
Bosini added why the blend of HR tools and financial services makes Jem difficult to replicate.
“The HR tools create trusted, recurring engagement; the financial products then solve tangible employee needs,” Bosini said.
“That combination is difficult to replicate because it requires strong technology, deep employer integration, regulatory discipline and the trust of employees.
“The result is not merely a collection of products. It is an increasingly valuable distribution and operating layer between employers and their workforces.”
Future Expansion: ‘Jem 2.0’ and AI Integration
Looking ahead, Jem is doubling down on artificial intelligence to unify its offerings.
The platform is anchored by the Jem Hub, an AI-native rebuild of the employer product that centralises workforce management and provides deeper employee insights than previously possible.
Van der Merwe outlined the company’s ambitious growth trajectory: “Over the years we’ve been gradually building up our feature set, incrementally going through each challenge and building a solution for it.
“Our vision has always been to join the dots into one workforce management platform, and this raise, together with AI, lets us do that far faster.
“We’re aiming to serve over a million users within three years, with plans to scale internationally too.”
Ellis concluded by teasing the imminent product rollout saying: “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.”
*This article first appeared in our sister publication TechFinancials.co.za
