Aquaculture all-rounder plans 10-fold increase in business
An aquaculture start-up company that offers fish and shrimp farmers access to feed, financing and markets has completed a third round of funding.
Gibran Huzaifah, co-founder and chief executive of Indonesia-based eFishery, said the new funding would allow the business to roll out across the country and achieve its vision of being a leading aquaculture intelligence company.
E-Fishery, which is part of sustainable aquaculture investor Aqua-Spark’s minority-stake portfolio, raised money in a pre-Series A funding round in 2015 and a Series A round in late 2018. Its business has quadrupled over that period and was profitable over the past two years.
‘Higher yields, lower costs’
The Series B funding round has been led by venture capital fund Go-Ventures and Singapore-based private equity investor Northstar Group. Existing investors including Aqua-Spark and south east Asia venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners also support the fundraising round.
E-Fishery serves thousands of farmers in 24 provinces across Indonesia.
“Through the introduction of new technologies, we increase yields and lower costs for fish and shrimp farmers,” said Huzaifah, a former fish farmer. “With products that support the entire aquaculture ecosystem, from ponds to last mile distribution, we help farmers build more profitable and sustainable farming businesses.”
100 new hubs
New versions of the company’s eFisheryFeeder are being developed to be more compatible with different types of ponds (including smaller ponds and ponds using floating net cages). The company is also piloting new sensors, including those specifically for shrimp, and aims to launch them later this year.
E-Fishery has recently set up eFisheryPoint, a one-stop physical hub located near the farmers to allow them to access eFishery products easily. At the eFisheryPoint hubs, fish farmers can purchase eFishery products, sell their fish, or participate in other engagement activities, such as arranging product training, product demos or repairs.
Currently, there are 30 eFisheryPoint in Indonesia, and eFishery plans to open 100 new hubs across the country by end 2020.
Doubling workforce
“Our products support tens of thousands of fish and shrimp farms in over 180 cities, based in 24 provinces across Indonesia,” said Huzaifah.
“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.”
The company has more than 250 employees and plans to double headcount by end of 2020. It will focus on strengthening its product and engineering team, to create new digital products and services, as well as develop its sales and customer experience team, to accelerate the company’s growth.
