Do you have the cash? Ask GIMO, the Vietnamese payroll startup. It just raised $1.9M in seed funding, led by Singapore's Integra Partners.

• It has provided on-demand pay to over 25,000 workers, typically from manufacturing and retail.
• Its beneficiaries have grown over 130% monthly.

It's not for an early shopping spree. GIMO allows people to get their wages early when unexpected financial issues come up.

📚 GIMO basics

Its main market is blue-collar workers, who are some of the most vulnerable to $$$ trouble. They usually don't have many safe or affordable options.

• 290M people in SEA have limited to no access to formal banking services: no bank accounts, loans and more.
• These workers don't have fixed monthly salaries and get paid by the hour, which is harder to track.

⚙️ How it works

Launched in 2021, GIMO's platform brings companies' payroll systems into a mobile app.

• Keep track of how many days you've worked and your daily earnings in real-time.
• Get personal finance tips to manage your money better.
• Instantly receive your earned wages when you need them, even before payday.

🔠 ABCs of EWA

Earned wage access (EWA) providers like GIMO help bring financial stability — and they're popping up everywhere from SEA (see more funding rounds here!) to the West. (Even Walmart, Pizza Hut and Visa use EWAs to help their teams!)

• In the US, Dailypay raised $500M this year and hit unicorn status.
• Indonesia's Wagely raised $5.6M in June and has over 250,000 users.
• The Philippines' Advance raised a seed round in 2020 when it provided over $3M to its users.

🤭 Can't stop, won't stop

In the future, GIMO plans to create a digital financial platform to help users organize their finances — from spending and savings to investments.

• Right now, it's doubling down on data analytics and AI on its current product for a better user experience.