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BANDUNG, 11 Januari 2022 – Indonesian agritech start-up eFishery today announced that it has successfully closed US$90 million in its Series C round, making it the largest fundraise by an aquaculture technology start-up in the world. This round of investment was co-led by Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Sequoia Capital India, with participation from existing investors including the Northstar Group, Go-Ventures, Aqua-Spark, and Wavemaker Partners.
The funds raised will be used to scale up eFishery’s platform and to strengthen its digital products, making it the largest digital “cooperative” for fish and shrimp farming. eFishery also aims to expand regionally, targeting the top 10 countries in aquaculture, such as India and China.
“Indonesia is one of the world’s largest producers of fish and we believe its aquaculture industry can play a meaningful role in feeding the world’s growing population,” said Anna Lo, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “eFishery is pioneering the adoption of technology for local fish and shrimp farmers with a complete, integrated platform that supports them to improve productivity across feed supply, production, and the sale of fresh produce. We are delighted to be partnering with the eFishery team to support them to provide a reliable and sustainable supply of aquatic food products to Indonesia and beyond."
Based in Bandung, eFishery revolutionizes traditional farming methods and provides solutions designed specifically to improve outcomes for fish and shrimp farmers. It offers an end-to-end platform providing farmers with access to (i) technology, (ii) feed, (ii) financing, and (iii) markets.
Since launching in 2013, the company has deployed thousands of smart feeders, serving over 30,000 farmers across 24 provinces in Indonesia. At the peak of the pandemic, eFishery scaled its network by tenfold since December 2020, and deepened adoption of its fresh and feed services.
“With US$20 billion in market size, and a fragmented and complex supply chain, aquaculture is one of the largest and most attractive opportunities in Indonesia. That’s what makes this partnership with eFishery, the undisputed leader in the market, so exciting,” said Aakash Kapoor, VP, Sequoia India.
“eFishery’s product offerings spanning feeder devices, input feed procurement, and fresh output sales combined with farmer financing is the most comprehensive and strategic model to serve this market. Sequoia Capital India team is impressed with the strong growth and fundamentals in the business, and excited about the prospects of the company,” said Johan Surani, VP, Sequoia India.
eFishery’s latest suite of cutting edge products includes eFarm and eFisheryKu App. eFarm is an online platform that provides farmers with comprehensive and easy-to-understand information about their shrimp farming operations, while eFisheryKu is an integrated platform where fish farmers can purchase their farming supplies, such as feed, at competitive prices.
Pembudidaya juga dapat mengajukan permodalan melalui eFund, yang menghubungkan pembudidaya ikan secara langsung dengan institusi keuangan. Komponen utama dari eFund adalah Kabayan (Kasih, Bayar Nanti), sebuah layanan yang memberikan pembudidaya ikan modal produktif yang dapat digunakan untuk membeli sarana produksi budidaya dengan sistem pembayaran tempo. Keseluruhan proses dilakukan secara praktis melalui aplikasi eFisheryKu. Hingga saat ini, lebih dari 7.000 pembudidaya telah didukung oleh layanan ini, dengan total pinjaman yang disetujui melebihi 400 miliar rupiah.
“Kami fokus menghadirkan solusi untuk meningkatkan produktivitas pembudidaya. Melalui pengenalan teknologi yang baru, kami merampingkan usaha budidaya ikan dan udang, menjadikan industri ini lebih efektif, efisien, dan berkelanjutan. Sebagai contoh, teknologi kami di hilir, eFeeder, mampu mempercepat siklus panen dan meningkatkan kapasitas produksi hingga 26%. Kami juga menghubungkan pembudidaya langsung dengan pembeli melalui teknologi kami di hilir, eFresh, sehingga meningkatkan daya jual mereka. Hasilnya, solusi kami mampu menurunkan biaya operasional dan meningkatkan pendapatan pembudidaya hingga 45%,” ucap Gibran Huzaifah, Co-founder dan CEO eFishery.
“This new funding will allow us to scale our impact, expand regionally, and achieve our target of being a leading aquaculture technology company by improving the livelihoods of the farmers that we empower. We are excited to partner with Temasek, Softbank Vision Fund 2, and Sequoia Capital India, who we believe can add a significant boost to our mission.”
Growing the team and building a stronger platform
Since the last funding round, eFishery has grown its headcount threefold, with more than 900 employees now onboard. Though it is headquartered in Bandung, more than half of the employees are located remotely given the company’s permanent Work From Anywhere (WFA) policy.
“This funding will gear us to aggressively hire, especially for engineering and product development talent. We aim to recruit a thousand of new employees this year, not only to make an impact for the aquaculture industry in Indonesia, but also on a larger scale, to conquer the global aquaculture supply,” Gibran explained.
eFishery will be investing this Series C funding into growing its team and strengthening its products and operations in Indonesia. It will also extend its venture by expanding the business into regional markets. eFishery aims to acquire 1 million farmers in the next 3-5 years, and through its tech-driven solutions, eFishery will help to modernize farming techniques and improve outcomes.
“Our first and foremost vision is to feed the global community through aquaculture as this is the most efficient and highly nutritious source of animal protein. With 10 billion people to feed by 2050, we will better prepare this sector to be ready to feed the world,” Gibran concluded.
For more information, please contact:
Galih Husni Fauzan
Head of Marketing eFishery
+62 8111 7100 42
About eFishery
Founded in 2013, eFishery is the largest digital “cooperatives” for fish and shrimp farmers and the first Aquaculture technology startup in Asia that develops innovations in the aquaculture field. eFishery disrupts traditional fish and shrimp farming methods and provides cutting edge solutions in the aquaculture ecosystem by offering an integrated-platform that provides access to technology, feed, financing, and market to fish and shrimp farmers. eFishery aims to build an aquaculture ecosystem in Indonesia that is not only profitable but also sustainable to the farmers and to all stakeholders.
The company has three main objectives: to address food scarcity through aquaculture; to overcome fundamental problems in the aquaculture industry by providing affordable technology; and to reduce social and economic inequality through an inclusive digital economy.
For more information on eFishery, please visit https://efishery.com/ https://efishery.com/
About Temasek
Temasek is a global investment company with a net portfolio value of S$381 billion (US$283 billion) as at 31 March 2021. Headquartered in Singapore, it has 13 offices in 9 countries around the world.
The Temasek Charter defines Temasek’s three roles as an Investor, Institution and Steward, which shape its ethos to do well, do right, and do good. As a provider of catalytic capital, it seeks to enable solutions to key global challenges.
With sustainability at the core of all Temasek does, it actively seeks sustainable solutions to address present and future challenges, as it captures investible opportunities to bring about a sustainable future for all.
For more information on Temasek, please visit www.temasek.com.sg. www.temasek.com.sg.
About Sequoia Capital India
Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO and beyond. Sequoia India operates in Southeast Asia and India where we actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, Carousell, Druva, Gojek, OYO Rooms, Tokopedia, Truecaller, Zilingo, Zomato and more.
We spur founders to push the boundaries of what’s possible. In partnering with Sequoia, startups benefit from nearly 50 years of tribal knowledge and lessons learned working with companies like Airbnb, Alibaba, Apple, Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn and Stripe early on.
From the beginning, universities, endowments and other non-profits have been the backbone of our investor base, which means founders’ accomplishments make a meaningful difference. For more information on Sequoia’s work in India and SE Asia, visit sequoiacap.com/india sequoiacap.com/india
About Go-Ventures
Go-Ventures is a venture capital firm that aims to invest in early-stage companies with demonstrated traction in their target markets. It aims to support, promote and expand technology ecosystems and in turn improve the lives of people in emerging markets. Go- Ventures is backed by GoTo, Indonesia’s leading technology company, as well as a number of notable private equity firms, venture capital firms, global technology businesses, regional conglomerates, and highly regarded technopreneurs.
About the Northstar Group
The Northstar Group is a Singapore headquartered private equity firm managing more than US$2.5 billion in committed equity capital dedicated to investing in growth companies in Indonesia and to a lesser extent, other countries in Southeast Asia. The Northstar Group has a solid track record of actively growing the businesses of its portfolio companies over its investment horizon. Since its founding in 2003, the Northstar Group has invested in more than 35 companies across the banking, insurance, consumer/retail, manufacturing, technology, telecom, and agribusiness sectors. The Northstar Group has invested over US$3 billion with its co-investors in the Southeast Asian region
About Aqua-Spark
Launched in 2014, Aqua-Spark is an investment fund with a mission to transform the global aquaculture industry into one that is healthier, more sustainable, and more accessible. They invest in aquaculture companies across the value chain—spanning farming operations, alternative feed ingredients, disease-battling technology, and consumer-facing aquaculture products. These companies are solving some of the industry’s big challenges while bringing returns that are comparable to today’s traditional industry. The portfolio works as an ecosystem, with the companies agreeing to collaborate on optimal solutions, and working together toward this shared vision of a more efficient global aquaculture industry. Since 2015, the fund has invested in 24 complementary SMEs. Thus far, Aqua-Spark has EUR 275 million in assets under management, dedicated to investments in elements of the aquaculture industry that will make fish farming sustainable. The goal of the fund is to ultimately make sustainability widespread and profitable enough that it becomes the only way to farm fish.
About Wavemaker Partners
Wavemaker Partners is Southeast Asia’s go-to VC firm investing in early-stage enterprise, deep tech, and sustainability startups. Since 2012, it has backed 140+ companies, of which 120+ (85%) are in enterprise and deep tech. The firm has over US$300 million in AUM across three funds in the region, and has seen 10 exits valued at close to US$700 million. Today, 70% of Wavemaker’s active portfolio startups in Southeast Asia are aligned with at least one UNDP Sustainable Development Goal.
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