Indonesian startup Lumina, a first-of-its-kind jobs community platform aimed at providing better economic opportunities for underserved blue-collar workers, announced today the company is now backed by Y Combinator (YC) and Alpha JWC Ventures.
“This funding will help unlock Lumina’s potential to bring change to Indonesia’s labor force and we believe the Lumina team is the right one to take on this challenge,” said Gustaf Alstromer, Group Partner, Y Combinator. Lumina has joined the huge alumni network of YC’s – including Airbnb, Stripe, and Dropbox.
“Blue-collar workers in Indonesia are severely underserved. They lack access to career and development resources that can provide them with better economic opportunities.We, at Lumina, are eager to provide them with an effective platform for development and advancement. By leveraging the power of our immersive community and AI-based job recommendations, we aim to democratise hiring and automate quality matching between blue-collar workers and employers, said co-founder & CEO of Lumina, Aswin Andrison.
The Jakarta-headquartered startup was co-founded in September 2021 by Andrison, who is a veteran entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in product, operations and market expertise in FMCG, grocery and MSMEs
Together with Aswin, ex-Twitter’s Tri Ahmad Irfan is also at the helm of Lumina as the co-founder & CTO.
Within two months, Lumina has brought on more than 100,000 job seekers and 20,000 jobs from thousands of companies including Shopee, Lemonilo, Sirclo, Kargo and Astro, among others. In addition, the platform is seeing strong traction with 1,000 new daily user sign-ups and 3,000 new daily jobs added.
With the funding, Lumina plans to triple the size of its engineering team where the company aspires to build a world class team of mission-driven technologists. “At Lumina, we believe that our team of young engineers is crucial in carrying out our mission to empower millions of blue-collar workers. We strive to provide a true environment of a fast-growing startup ideal for learning and improving,” said Lumina’s CTO, Tri Ahmad Irfan.
Aimed at helping 80-120 million blue-collar workers in Indonesia to access opportunities through an easy-to-use, community-based recruiting and benefits platform, Lumina is the first platform to provide Indonesia’s working class with a professional community and a support network.
These workers are able to experience a tech-driven end-to-end solution that includes a streamlined interview process and a community forum where they can interact with fellow job seekers. It is a trusted, hassle- and worry-free solution that reduces the amount of paperwork applicants need to prepare and replaces long waiting times and application follow-ups with simple, progress notifications. Applicants will also be relieved from the burden of having to look for jobs in multiple locations and platforms.
“We believe Lumina will play a crucial role in maximizing the work force and potential of individuals as well as businesses. We are excited to work together with Aswin and his team again; and we are looking forward to helping realize their vision,” said Jefrey Joe, Co-Founder and General Partner, Alpha JWC Ventures.
Lumina plans to be a one-stop shop for workers, where they can upskill and contribute to organizations that they believe in and are proud to work for, while developing meaningful relationships with fellow job seekers.