- Monk’s Hill Ventures invested $2 million in GoGet
- GoGet plans to expand services in ASEAN countries
- It promotes a flexible workforce for SMEs
- GoGet promises insurance and saving plans to workers
Recently, GoGet announced a $2 million Series A investment from Monk’s Hill Ventures. GoGet connects SME, companies, and business owners to verified flexible workers. It is an online marketplace based in Malaysia and has around 20,000 workers. It is associated with businesses like Foodpanda, IKEA Malaysia. BloomThis, along with some 5,000 other names is also involved with GoGet.
The workers are called ‘GoGetters’ and companies can hire them for part-time support. The jobs include sales and marketing, logistics, administrative role, and more. The freelancer platform plans to use the money to grow its services in Malaysia. It intends to expand product and technology teams, sales, and digital marketing staff. GoGet also aims to grow user acquisition within and outside the country.
Why was GoGet founded?
GoGet was founded in 2014 in Kuala Lumpur. Its chief executive officer and co-founder Francesca Chia focussed on gig workers. Because there are severe labor gaps in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries. According to her, the majority of ASEAN’s labor market was low to middle-skilled. It also lacked labor protections or job security. There wasn’t much scope for future career paths and financial services. And the concept of insurance and savings was pretty much non-existent.
“The traditional market is inefficient during these challenging times. Businesses especially SMEs need to find innovative ways to cut costs while being profitable,” Francesca Chia said in a statement.
She found that around 70% of employers in ASEAN countries were from Small and Medium Enterprises. There was a shortage of reliable staff and difficulty in training them. GoGet bridges the gap by connecting relevant businesses with verified workers. They are also able to switch between alternate categories of work. This enables on-the-job learning and skill improvement.
Insurance and saving plans will be provided to the company staff. This will put them on par with those working in a full-time job. GoGet’s main competitors are Kaodim, Fastfast, Pickupp, Teem, etc.
Kuo-Yi Lim, Monk’s Hill Ventures’ CEO, says the nature of work is being redefined. He points out that companies and workers both need flexibility. Also, the pandemic has accelerated this trend. Because many businesses now require an elastic workforce that GoGet encourages and provides.
Earlier it received an undisclosed amount of capital from 500 startups. It won the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) B40 Challenge during MyFinTechWeek in 2019. The challenge was designed to raise the usage of finance-based services. It targeted low and middle-income groups in Malaysia.
