The University Technology Fund, E4E and Next176/FutureGrowth participated alongside angel investors, including former Old Mutual CEO Iain Williamson. Jem did not disclose its valuation or the ownership stakes acquired by the investors.

Jem currently serves more than 250,000 employees across over 200 companies, including Servest, Edgars, Illovo, Meridian,

The Capital and KFC franchise operator Albimix. Quona Capital reported that Jem’s recurring revenue had more than doubled year over year, while net revenue retention had reached approximately 120% with minimal customer losses.

“Its WhatsApp-based platform is becoming an important infrastructure through which employers communicate with, manage and support their workforces,” said Johan Bosini, venture partner at Quona Capital.

Jem enables employers to manage workforce communication, onboarding, payslips, leave requests, time and attendance, employee benefits and earned wage access through a single system.

Employees access these services through WhatsApp, reducing the need for company email accounts, additional applications or computer access.

The company recently introduced Jem 2.0, an upgraded employer platform that provides workforce data, operational insights and automated tools.

Time-and-attendance management, employee assistance services and credit-score support are already available, while rostering and a learning management system remain in beta testing.

Simon Ellis, Jem’s co-founder and CEO, said the company is consolidating functions that employers have traditionally managed through multiple disconnected systems.

The funding will support faster product launches as Jem develops a broader operating platform for employers with distributed teams in sectors such as retail, hospitality, security, manufacturing and facilities management.

Ellis founded the company with Caroline van der Merwe in May 2020 under the SmartWage name.

The business initially offered earned wage access, allowing employees to withdraw pay they had already earned and receive the money within 90 minutes. It rebranded as Jem in November 2022 after expanding beyond wage access into human resources, workforce communication and employee benefits.

The Series A follows a $2 million seed round completed in 2022 and a $3.3 million pre-Series A round announced in March 2025.

The earlier financing included a $1.65 million private debt facility intended to support new financial products and the company’s expansion beyond Southern Africa.

Jem’s latest round comes as investment activity in Africa’s technology sector continues to recover.

African technology companies raised $4.1 billion in equity and debt financing during 2025, representing a 25% annual increase, according to Partech Africa’s 2025 venture capital report.

South Africa led the continent in both equity funding and equity deal volume, while enterprise technology investment increased by 55% to $238 million.

Quona Capital’s leadership of the round indicates that investors view Jem as both an enterprise software provider and a channel for delivering financial services through employers.

Combining workforce management with products such as earned wage access, savings, insurance and mobile connectivity could give Jem recurring access to employees who are difficult for conventional financial institutions and office-focused software providers to reach.

The investment gives Jem additional capital to develop its technology, strengthen its employer integrations and expand a business model built around Africa’s large deskless workforce.

Its transition from a wage-access product to a broader workforce platform also shows how African technology companies can use familiar digital channels to address operational needs while creating new routes for financial-service distribution.