Pintarnya Raises $16.7 Million to Help Students Find Jobs and Loans

• Pintarnya raises $16.7 million Series A to expand its platform.
• The startup offers AI-driven job matching, side gigs, and skill development for Indonesia’s informal workforce.
• Pintarnya provides safe, affordable loans and plans to introduce savings and investment products.

Pintarnya, an Indonesian employment platform that combines job matching with financial services, has raised $16.7 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Square Peg and saw participation from existing investors Vertex Venture Southeast Asia & India and East Ventures.

Founded in 2022 by Ghirish Pokardas, Nelly Nurmalasari, and Henry Hendrawan, Pintarnya aims to address two major challenges faced by Indonesian workers: earning enough income and borrowing responsibly. “Traditionally, mass workers in Indonesia find jobs offline through job fairs or word of mouth, with employers buried in paper applications and candidates rarely hearing back. For borrowing, their options are often limited to family or predatory lenders with harsh collection practices”, Hendrawan told TechCrunch. “We digitize job matching with AI to make hiring faster and provide workers with safer, healthier lending options designed around what they can reasonably afford, rather than pushing them deeper into debt”.

Indonesia has a workforce of around 150 million people, with 59% employed in the informal sector. These workers often struggle to access formal financial services because they lack verifiable income and official employment documentation. Pintarnya addresses this gap by partnering with asset-backed lenders to provide secured loans using collateral such as gold, electronics, or vehicles.

Since its seed funding in 2022, Pintarnya has grown rapidly. The platform now serves over 10 million job seekers and 40,000 employers nationwide. Its revenue has increased nearly fivefold year-on-year, and the company expects to reach break-even by the end of the year. Most of Pintarnya’s users are aged 21 to 40 and have a high school education or a diploma below university level. The startup focuses on this underserved segment, which represents a large part of Indonesia’s blue-collar and informal workforce.

Hendrawan explained that Pintarnya’s services go beyond jobs. “Through the journey of building employment services, we discovered that our users needed more than just jobs they needed access to financial services that traditional banks couldn’t provide”, he said. The platform uses AI to streamline job matching and offers workers financial products that are safe, affordable, and tailored to their needs.

Unlike other job platforms in Indonesia such as JobStreet, Kalibrr, and Glints, which mainly serve white-collar roles, Pintarnya focuses on blue-collar workers. Its platform offers quick-apply options for walk-in interviews, affordable e-learning courses on relevant skills, in-app side-gig opportunities, and seamless connections to financial services like loans.

The fintech sector in Indonesia has also largely catered to white-collar and upper-middle-class consumers. Traditional credit scoring models rely on steady monthly income and bank account activity, leaving blue-collar workers underserved. Pintarnya fills this gap by offering financial services designed for workers with irregular income and limited formal documentation.

Lending is currently the most in-demand financial service among Pintarnya’s users, Hendrawan said. The company plans to expand its offerings to include micro-savings and investment products in the future, in collaboration with its partners.

The new Series A funding will be used to strengthen Pintarnya’s platform technology and broaden its financial service offerings. With the majority of Indonesia’s workforce employed in blue-collar and informal sectors, the founders see significant growth opportunities in the local market. Leveraging their experience in managing businesses across Southeast Asia, they are also open to exploring regional expansion when the timing is right.

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“Our vision is for Pintarnya to be the everyday companion that empowers Indonesians to not only make ends meet today but also plan, grow, and upgrade their lives tomorrow”, Hendrawan said. “In five years, we see Pintarnya as the go-to super app for Indonesia’s workers not just for earning income, but as a trusted partner throughout their life journey. We want to be the first stop when someone is looking for work, a place that helps them upgrade their skills, and a reliable guide as they make financial decisions”.

With its focus on AI-driven job matching and accessible financial services, Pintarnya is positioning itself as a unique platform that empowers blue-collar and informal workers across Indonesia. By combining employment opportunities with responsible lending and skill development, the startup aims to become an essential tool for workers seeking stability, growth, and long-term financial security.