Blue collar and service industry recruitment platform FindWork has raised a collective US$2 million since August 2017 by angel investor Bernard Chong to expand across Southeast Asia. Bernard Chong has invested in a multitude of tech startups across the region, including ASI Studios and Synergy88 Digital in the Philippines.

FindWork, a tech startup launched on February 2018, was co-founded by Kevin Williams and Allen Tan to better connect employers with job seekers in the blue collar and service industry job markets.

The startup plans to focus on growing its tech team while providing great service levels and reach to its users. It will also use the fresh funding to continue to scale its user base of job seekers, which has seen a steady 15 percent week-on-week growth since its launch.

The application is currently operational in Indonesia and the Philippines, with over 30,000 job seekers and over 500 companies on board since February. With the high turnover rates in the blue collar and service industries, data estimates that the serviceable available market is over 100 million workers in Southeast Asia.

Commenting on the chosen markets for the app’s launch, Mr. Kevin Williams, Founder and CEO of FindWork says, “There is an unprecedented opportunity in the industry for change — with high turnover rates, many blue collar and service industry workers in the region need quick access to suitable jobs. This is where FindWork comes in to target this potential with technology that enables faster matching between job seekers and hiring companies. We want to alleviate pain points of the job application and recruitment process in an intelligent and intuitive manner to create value for the Southeast Asian community.”

“FindWork has successfully identified levers to increase operational efficiency and productivity while driving growth. The startup’s innovativeness and resilience have proven its capability to resolve an identified gap in blue collar and service industry jobs recruitment, and it has huge potential to scale in the region. Rather than operating as a staffing agency, FindWork lets the technology do the grit work so that there is little manpower involvement, allowing faster scalability,” says Allen Tan, COO and Founder of FindWork.

The funding will aid FindWork in growing its client base, which currently includes companies such as Starbucks in the Philippines and Alfamart in Indonesia. In the future, FindWork plans to expand to Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, as well as to develop ways to better connect student graduates and hiring companies.