eFishery raises USD 90 millions to expand throughout Asia and become the world’s largest aquaculture technology startup

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Indonesian agritech start-up eFishery 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.

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,” said Gibran Huzaifah, Co-founder and CEO of eFishery.

Provide a reliable and sustainable supply

“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”, Lo added.

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 technology, feed, financing, and markets.

30,000 farmers across 24 provinces in Indonesia

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.

More successful with eFarm, eFund and eFisheryKu App

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.

Farmers can also apply for a loan through eFund, which links fish farmers directly to financial institutions. A key component of eFund is Kabayan (‘Kasih Bayar Nanti’, translates to ‘Pay Later’), a service that provides fish farmers with financing that can be used to purchase fish farming needs through installments. All processes are done seamlessly with just one app, eFisheryKu. To date, more than 7,000 farmers have been supported by this service, with the total loan approved exceeding US$ 28 million.

“We are focused on increasing farmers’ productivity. Through the introduction of new technologies, we’re streamlining the fish and shrimp farming business, making the industry more effective, efficient and sustainable”, Gibran explained.

For example, he added, “our upstream technology eFeeder, optimizes yield days and increases farmers’ production capacity by up to 26% while also optimizing feed efficiency by up to 30% through reducing time and labour costs. We also connect farmers with buyers via eFresh, our downstream technology, which increases their purchasing power. As a result, the solutions ecosystem lowers operational farming costs and increases the farmers’ income by up to 45%.”

“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,” finalized the executive.