Indonesian agritech start-up eFishery – which provides fish and shrimp farmers with access to feed, financing and markets – today announced that it has successfully closed its Series B round.
The funding has been co-led by Go-Ventures and the Northstar Group, together with existing investors including sustainable aquaculture investment fund Aqua-Spark and early stage enterprise and deep tech VC Wavemaker Partners.
Launched in 2013 and based in Bandung, eFishery serves thousands of farmers in 24 provinces across Indonesia. eFishery raised a pre-Series A round in 2015 and a Series A round in in the late 2018. eFishery’s business has quadrupled over that period and was profitable over past two years.
The funds raised will be used to strengthen product development, anchor eFishery’s position within the domestic aquaculture industry, and grow the team.
“eFishery’s solutions, which directly support local fish farmers, also address wider issues, including strengthening food supply chains, alleviating global food shortages and helping to boost both Indonesia’s fishing industry and overall economy. As eFishery expands first within Indonesia and subsequently regionally, we look forward to seeing these benefits grow exponentially,” said Aditya Kumar, VP of Investments, Go-Ventures.
“We are really inspired by the impact that eFishery is having on the aquaculture supply chain,” said Patrick Walujo, co-founder of the Northstar Group. “The company’s ability to deliver fish farmers the latest in smart-hardware integrated with cloud-based mobile analytics is transforming a very traditional business in Indonesia. We are proud to partner with the eFishery team and see great things ahead.”
“Through the introduction of new technologies, we increase yields and lower costs for fish and shrimp farmers. With products that support the entire aquaculture ecosystem, from ponds to last mile distribution, we help farmers build more profitable and sustainable farming businesses,” said Gibran Huzaifah, co-founder and CEO of eFishery. “This new funding will allow us to grow the company, roll out across Indonesia, and achieve our vision of being a leading aquaculture intelligence company. We are excited to partner with Go-Ventures and the Northstar Group, who we believe can add significant value to our platform.”
Key products
eFishery provides four main products:· eFisheryFeeder – a device that enables automated feeding for fish and shrimp, which can be monitored and scheduled via a smartphone;· eFisheryFeed – which provides farmers with quality fish feed at affordable prices;· eFisheryFund – to help farmers gain access to funds to grow their business; and· eFisheryFresh – an online platform to connect Indonesian fish farmers with their customers (both end consumers and merchants).
The company has also recently set up a series of eFisheryPoints - one-stop hubs near the farmers to allow them to access eFishery products.
“eFishery’s products support tens of thousands of fish and shrimp farms in over 180 cities, based in 24 provinces across Indonesia. There are some 3.3 million fish farms across Indonesia. Our most effective sales channel is marketing our products directly to the farmers by arranging field visits. With the launch of eFisheryPoint, which allows us to engage with farmers easier, as well as our efforts to penetrate the domestic market further, we are aiming for a 10-fold increase in our business,” said Huzaifah.
