Aruna Announces Additional Series A Funding Of 431 Billion Rupiah

Aruna announced the acquisition of additional funding for a series A round worth $30 million or around 431 billion Rupiah led by Vertex Ventures. Also joining were a number of previous investors such as Prosus Ventures, AC Ventures, East Ventures (Growth Fund), Indogen Capital, SMDV, and SIG Venture Capital.

This new investment brings total series A pendanaan funding Aruna collected reached $65 million or 934 billion Rupiah. According to the data we have obtained, Aruna's current valuation is in the range of more than $200 million.

The fresh funds will be used to boost expansion to various regions in Indonesia, while increasing market share Aruna in the global market. In addition, the company will use the funds to recruit local talent in building sustainable fisheries technology and infrastructure from upstream to downstream.

"This additional funding round proves investor confidence in Indonesia's potential as the largest maritime country as well as proves Aruna's role as a pioneer in this sector. Aruna is committed to continuing to build a wider impact for Indonesia, especially coastal communities," said Co-Founder & CEO Aruna Farid Naufal Aslam.

He continued, "This is in line with the government's agenda to encourage an inclusive and sustainable economy by encouraging the implementation of technology throughout the country. Our vision is to target Indonesia as the world's maritime axis and we hope to achieve this by revolutionizing the fisheries supply chain, building financial inclusion and encourage the implementation of sustainable fisheries,”

In 2021, Aruna has built 100 fishing communities with more than 26 thousand registered fishermen. In addition, they have also opened 5 thousand job vacancies in rural areas, especially coastal areas. Last year, they also sold 44 million kilograms of fisherman's catch to more than 8 countries. To date, Aruna has operated in 27 provinces throughout Indonesia.

Tighten up B2B and B2C business models

Established since 2016, Aruna acts as one stop shop and fisheries aggregators to streamline the supply chain of fishery products from fishermen to the global market. Since the last 5 years in business, Aruna claims to have increased up to 400x.

Their mainstay service is the sale of fisherman's catch products. System Aruna enable businesses to place orders in bulk (B2B) -- including for export purposes overseas.

In addition, now they also serve personal orders for smaller quantities (B2C). In addition to fresh fish, Aruna has also started exploring processed products by empowering rural communities with an agenda to help improve the economy of coastal communities.

“Our mission is to make the ocean a better source of life for all with the Sea For All campaign. We are committed to building infrastructure that supports sustainable fisheries, because we believe that profit will be achieved by balancing humans and the environment,” said Co-Founder & Chief Sustainability Officer Aruna Utari Octavianty.

Startups in the fishery sector get the attention of investors

As a maritime country, the size of the fishery market share in Indonesia is indeed very large. Digitalization, which is starting to look mature, has also created confidence for investors to support startups that have a vision to democratize the sector.

Earlier this year eFishery also received funding worth 1,2 trillion Rupiah. As is known, eFishery develops a number of technological tools and digital supply chain systems to help fish/shrimp farmers improve their business. JALA Tech also in November 2021 announced funding of IDR 85,7 billion from a number of impact investors. And one month earlier, DELOS received seed funding from Arise and MDI Ventures.