September 10, 2015

Pure play private equity firm, Aquaspark, and Indonesian venture capital firm, Ideosource have committed financing of an undisclosed amount to Indonesia-based aquaculture-tech company, eFishery, in a pre-Series A round of fundraising.

Usually, fish feed accounts for between 50% and 80% of an aquaculture operation’s overhead. Unmeasured and inexact feeding volumes in a commercial scale business can mean economic losses for the operator, waste of feed, and environmental damage.

eFishery, a startup concentrating of fish and shrimp farming, has developed a feeding technology to resolve these issues through an affordable and tech-based solution – an automatic, smart feeding system that uses sensors to calibrate fish appetite and automatically distribute the appropriate feed volumes, then  providing a realtime report of consumption to the operator’s smartphone.

 “I saw the problem when I was a fish farmer myself,” said Gibran Chuzaefah Amsi El Farizy, eFishery co-founder and chief executive officer. “Fish feeding is done inefficiently by laborers, and farmers don’t have any technology to control the feeding yet. We built this product to make the fish and shrimp farming business more efficient, convenient, and accountable.”

The company gains revenue through the sale of smart feeders to fish farmers, and through monthly subscriptions for the use of its software that monitors and analyses consumption, but the company has plans to commence a rental program through which farmers can rent eFishery’s products and pay monthly, or upon harvest, making it easier for small scale farmers to adopt the technology.

“Indonesia has about 3.3 million fishponds and 2.7 million fish farms,” says Amy Novogratz, partner, Aquaspark. “When brought to scale, it could have a massive impact across a global industry plagued by this challenge. It has the potential to set a new standard for aquaculture and make the industry more transparent, data-­driven, and accountable – all factors that will make businesses in this sector more investment­-friendly.”

Ninety six percent of all fish farming operations are located in Asia, and in Indonesia alone the market is worth $5.4 billion. Currently, eFishery’s system is only available in Java, Bali, and Sumatra, but the startup now has over 17,000 fish and shrimp farming operations in its pipeline, including orders from Singapore, Thailand, China, India, Brazil and countries in Africa.

The capital from the investment will be used to expand the company’s distribution network, engage distributors, expand its market share in Indonesia, engage with local partners, and intensify its hiring efforts.