eFishery, an Indonesian firm that provides aquaculture farmers with technology and services, has raised $90 million in Series C funding. Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek, Sequoia Capital's Indian unit, and Japanese tech giant SoftBank, through its Vision Fund II, co-led the deal.
Targeting Top 10 Aquaculture Producing Countries
Aqua-Spark, Wavemaker Partners, Northstar Group, and Go-Ventures — the venture capital arm of Indonesian software giant GoTo — were among the existing investors. The money will be used to grow eFishery's digital platform and expand into new markets. It is aimed at the top 10 aquaculture-producing countries, which include China and India.
"By improving the livelihoods of the farmers, we empower, this new funding will help us to scale our impact, expand regionally, and realise our goal of being a leading aquaculture technology company," said co-founder and CEO Gibran Huzaifah in a statement.
"With this money, we will be able to aggressively hire, particularly in engineering and product development." We want to hire a thousand additional personnel this year, not only to help the aquaculture business in Indonesia, but also to conquer the worldwide aquaculture supply on a wider scale."
"Our first and primary goal is to feed the world through aquaculture, which is the most efficient and healthy source of animal protein," he continued. The firm from Bandung aspires to become the world's "biggest digital 'cooperative' for fish and shrimp farming."
eFishery Provides Digitally Controlled ‘Smart Feeder’
eFishery began in 2013 by providing smallholder fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia with a digitally controlled ‘smart feeder.' It evolved vertically and laterally from there, starting with an online marketplace that connected farmers to feed suppliers and eventually to other inputs.
Since then, it has expanded into financial services, assisting its network of farmers in obtaining working cash for their businesses. It also connects them to buyer marketplaces, allowing farmers to sell their produce at a higher price.
"Through eFresh, our downstream technology, we also connect farmers with customers, increasing their purchasing power." As a result, [our] solution ecosystem reduces operational farming expenses while increasing farmer income by up to 45%."
Offer Smart Feeders To 30000 Fish & Shrimp Farmers of Indonesia
eFishery claims to have distributed "thousands" of its smart feeders to more than 30,000 fish farmers & shrimp farmers across 27 of Indonesia's 34 provinces since its start in 2013.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the company's client base rose tenfold and its personnel number grew triple, according to the company. Over the next three to five years, the business hopes to have 1 million farmers on its platform.
"We believe Indonesia's aquaculture business can play a key role in feeding the world's rising population," Anna Lo, investment director at SoftBank Investment Advisers, said.
"With a $20 billion market size and a fragmented and complex supply chain, aquaculture is one of the largest and most appealing prospects in Indonesia," said Aakash Kapoor, vice president at Sequoia India.
The most comprehensive and strategic model to serve this market is Efishery's product offerings, which include feeder devices, input feed purchases, and fresh output sales, as well as farmer finance."
