Jem has raised $8.4 million in Series A funding led by Quona Capital, a move that will support the company’s expansion and accelerate the development of tools for Africa’s deskless workforce.
The company, which is used by more than 200 companies and over 250,000 frontline workers, plans to use the funding to grow its platform and bring new products to market faster. Jem has expanded beyond its original focus on HR and employee benefits to become a broader workforce management platform built around WhatsApp.
Funding to expand access to workforce tools
The investment will help Jem strengthen its existing products while expanding into areas such as rostering, learning management systems and other workforce tools currently in beta. Its live products already include time and attendance, credit scores and an employee assistance programme, alongside HR, payroll communication and employee benefits.
The funding round was led by Quona Capital, with participation from the University Technology Fund, E4E, Next176/FutureGrowth and several angel investors, including former Old Mutual CEO Iain Williamson.
Johan Bosini, Venture Partner at Quona Capital, said the firm backed Jem because it combines workforce software, employer relationships and financial services. He said Jem’s WhatsApp-based platform is becoming an important way for employers to communicate with, manage and support their employees.
Bosini also pointed to the company’s performance, noting that Jem serves more than 250,000 employees, has increased recurring revenue by more than 100% year on year and has achieved approximately 120% net revenue retention with negligible customer churn.
Jem Co-founder and CEO Simon Ellis said the company is focused on giving employers one platform instead of forcing them to manage several separate systems. “Jem is the workforce management platform for deskless employees,” he said, adding that employers can now use one place to manage a wider range of workforce needs.
Commercial Director Chris Hellmann said many employers still depend on a combination of older systems and separate workforce tools. Jem aims to replace that patchwork with a single platform built on WhatsApp.
The company’s Jem Hub is at the centre of this strategy, bringing employee communication, management and rewards together while giving employers greater insight into their workforce.
From earned wages to a broader workforce platform
Jem was founded in 2020 as SmartWage and rebranded as Jem in 2022. It began by allowing employees to access wages they had already earned through WhatsApp, with funds arriving within 90 minutes.
Since then, the company has expanded into payslips, onboarding, time and attendance, leave, workforce communication and other services. Co-founder and COO Caroline van der Merwe said the business was created in response to the high cost of payday lending for employed people facing short-term cashflow problems.
The company has continued building products around the challenges faced by employers and frontline workers. “Our vision has always been to join the dots into one workforce management platform,” van der Merwe said, adding that the latest funding and the use of AI will allow Jem to move faster.
Jem now serves companies including Servest, KFC, Meridian, The Capital, Edgars and Illovo. Servest Group Executive for Business Excellence Edward Heynes said Jem has made a significant difference to how the company connects with, manages and rewards its 18,000 employees.
The company’s focus on WhatsApp is also central to its growth strategy. Bosini said Jem’s advantage is that it is designed for employees who do not work behind computers and can reach them through a platform they already use every day.
Jem is also expanding its use of AI. CTO Thamsanqa Moyo said employers can connect to Jem through a secure MCP connection and complete tasks such as sending payslips, approving leave and communicating with teams from within existing AI tools.
The company was earlier named by Bloomberg as one of Africa’s top start-ups to watch in 2026, becoming one of only four South African businesses included on the list.
With the new funding, Jem intends to accelerate product development and expand the services available to employers and employees. The company has also created a waitlist for customers interested in accessing its new tools.
For Jem, the next phase is about bringing more workforce functions into one platform while making those services easier for frontline employees to access. As Bosini noted, the company is moving beyond individual products to build a broader operating layer between employers and their workforces.
