Pintarnya Announces Initial Funding of 93 Billion Rupiah

Pintarnya is a job marketplace platform that targets blue-collar workers. Today (19/5) announced that it has secured seed funding led by Sequoia Capital India and General Catalyst. The investment value that can be recorded is $6.3 million or the equivalent of 93 billion Rupiah.

The startup was founded by Nelly Nurmalasari, Henry Hendrawan, and Ghirish Pokardas. Nelly and Henry were previously known as senior executives at Traveloka, particularly in the financial products and technology division. Meanwhile, Ghirish previously worked as a senior executive at KKR who also focused on financial services.

Nelly herself was also part of the first cohort of the Sequoia Spark mentoring program — which was specifically designed by Sequoia for potential female entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia and India.

With this funding, Pintarnya will accelerate business growth by recruiting teams in the areas of development, product, design, marketing, operations, and business in Jakarta.

The Background Pintarnya Establishment

In the blue-collar segment, to find a job usually someone will rely on information that is spread by word of mouth. The existing online channels also provide a lot of vacancies information, it’s just that many are not verified, not even a few which lead to fraud against job seekers.

However, on the other hand, employers also have a serious gap in reaching potential workers. They need a reliable platform to identify, verify, and hire workers. This was told by Nelly (CEO). The problem is experienced directly.

“I used to hire beauty salon staff through online classifieds platforms or referrals of other workers. It was very difficult to quickly screen and verify candidates and their work experience. On the other hand, I also realized that for job seekers, it was very annoying to search and apply. work, then they become victims of fraud in the process,” said Nelly.

He continued, “Pintarnya aims to overcome these challenges for both parties. Then, 80% of the population owns a smartphone, so it’s a good time to launch a digital platform. Behavior changes triggered by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of Open Finance in Indonesia also provides a boost to our mission.”

The Solution Presented By Pintarnya

Pintarnya offers services through websites and mobile applications. For now, their services can only be used effectively for users in Greater Jakarta and Bandung.

In how it works, once a job seeker registers and creates a profile, Pintarnya will use the information provided to recommend relevant job opportunities. This includes considering various parameters including but not limited to job requirements, location and skills.

This approach is considered to be able to provide access not only to verified and curated prospects. After that, Pintarnya will work closely with employer partners to qualify and recruit relevant blue-collar workers.

“The mission of Pintar is not only to help workers find jobs. With a digital identity and verified employment history, we will open access to better financial services for them by partnering with financial institutions, enabling blue-collar workers to achieve their dreams for a better life. worth it,” Henry added.

Although the details are not elaborated, with a data-based mechanism and utilizing the Open Finance platform, Pintarnya is also committed to providing formal financial services for these workers. The goal is to improve their welfare, by fighting for financial literacy and inclusion.

It is also undeniable that the potential economic value of blue-collar workers is very large, but very complex and fragmented. In Indonesia, 60 million blue-collar workers account for more than 70% of paid workers and contribute 20% of GDP.

A number of platforms for blue-collar workers have also emerged previously. Call it AdaKerja, Side, MyRobin, Lumina, until the newest one is Atma. Atma also recently announced pre-seed funding to support its $5 million debut — they came up with a different approach, namely community empowerment.