September 27, 2019

By Lynda Kiernan

Chennai-based AI-driven aquaculture platform Aquaconnect has raised $1.1 million in Seed funding from India-focused impact investor Omnivore and aquaculture accelerator HATCH.

Founded by Rajamanohar Somasundaram, Sanjai Kumar, and Shanmuga Sundara Raj in 2017, and a participant in HATCH’S inaugural cohort in Bergen, Norway, Aquaconnect is a full-stack aquatech platform offering data-driven advisory and marketplace solutions in the form of SaaS tools for farm management, and its mobile app FarmMOJO for shrimp and fish farmers across India and Indonesia.

With this funding, the startup plans to launch new SaaS tools applicable to the aquaculture ecosystem, to strengthen the deep tech driving its FarmMOJO app, and to increase the fulfillment capacity of its omnichannel marketplace.

“We aim to reach 15,000 shrimp and fish farmers across India and Indonesia by December 2020. Omnivore and HATCH understand aquaculture, so they are perfect investors for our first institutional funding round,” said Aquaconnect Chief Executive Somasundaram.

The Backers

Co-founded by Mark Kahn and Jinesh Shah, and with offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai, Omnivore Partners focuses on venture capital investments spanning Seed and Series A rounds for companies in the agtech sector including digital platforms, precision ag, IoT, UAVs, remote sensing, and Big Data solutions. The firm also looks for investment opportunities in companies creating branded food products and novel ingredients, along with start-ups looking to improve rural livelihoods with supply chain, water management, and fintech solutions for smallholder farmers.

In May of this year, UK-based development finance company CDC Group invested $15 million in Omnivore Partners India Fund 2, which had announced a close at $97 million the previous month. 

HATCH was launched  in January 2018 by CEO Carsten Krome of Alimentos Ventures in Bergen, Norway, partnering with  NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster and Bergen Teknologioverføring (BTO) to offer innovative early stage aquaculture startups support in the form of capital and business support.

Following a very successful initial program in  Bergen, the accelerator moved to Cork, Ireland for its second cohort, before shifting to Hawaii to manage a new aquaculture accelerator and an associated investment fund. 

The establishment of the accelerator and fund was a joint endeavor between the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation (HSDC), and the University of Hawaii’s UH Ventures, LLC (UHV), however, Irish aquaculture accelerator HATCH has been tapped to manage and oversee operations.

“Having closely worked with Raj and his team now for more than a year, we are absolutely confident that they can deliver on the sharp growth trajectory that we are sending them on with this capital injection,” said Carsten Krome, managing partner, HATCH.

The Blue Revolution

Driven by macro-trends that include population growth, shifting wealth distribution, and changing dietary demands toward more protein content, investing in aquaculture is becoming a topic earmarked for investor discussions.

“Since 1960, global demand for seafood has increased 3.2 percent annually, outpacing the 1 percent annual growth in the world’s population over the same time period,” noted Philippe de Lapérouse, managing director of HighQuest Partners, in the piece Technology Plays in Aquaculture published in the GAI Gazette.

Rising global populations and increasing wealth – particularly in emerging economies – along with diminishing wild fish numbers have put pressure on the aquaculture industry to fill the gap in supply in a sustainable manner – something that is a focus of the Hatch program.

Predictive modeling by The World Bank estimates that by 2030, 62 percent of food fish will be provided through aquaculture, and from 2030 onward, aquaculture will dominate supply in the industry, according to the report Fish to 2030, Prospects for Fisheries and Aquaculture. 

And as demand continues to rise and the aquaculture sector in emerging economies continues to mature, it is increasingly critical that producers have access to the technologies that will keep them competitive and aligned with growing global market ESG requirements.

Aquaconnet’s FarmMOJO uses machine learning technology to provide insights and appropriate suggestions for shrimp farmers to achieve greater productivity, traceability, and higher revenues, while lowering production costs, and practicing better disease management. In addition, its marketplace provides a virtual venue to transact with feed producers, labs, hatcheries, processors, exporters, banks, insurance companies, and regulators.

“Aquaconnect is well set to catalyze the Blue Revolution 2.0 in India and across Asia,” said Mark Kahn, managing partner, Omnivore. “Also, the government of India is ramping up support for the aquaculture sector, carving out a separate Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy as well as launching the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY). We believe Raj and his team are building one of the most promising agritech startups globally, and we look forward to the exciting journey ahead.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.