eFishery Talks Expansion Plans to India and Fundraising

Launched in 2013, eFisheries Currently, it has undergone a massive business transformation and created an ecosystem that prioritizes the needs of fish farmers in Indonesia. Still using Smart Autofeeder as entry point, now eFishery is not only known as an IoT technology development startup for the sector aqua culture, but also become a cooperative that helps fish farmers get financing capital, buy feed, and sell fish.

To DailySocial.id, Co-Founder and CEO of eFishery Gibran Huzaifah shared their expansion plans into India, their focus on expanding collaboration, and finalizing funding to support business growth.

Expansion and collaboration

The company is still consistent with their flagship product, the eFishery Smart Autofeeder, which is an intelligent automatic fish feeding machine that is managed using a smartphone. This tool feeds automatically, logs feed data, and connects to the internet. The data is collected and then utilized by the company in providing the next solution, namely eFarm and eFisheryKu. In the future, the company will still provide eFeeder rental to fish farmers.

"entry point still on Smart Autofeeder and its apps. It will always be part of our technology, because to build an ecosystem end to end the basis must be from data and technology. This is what distinguishes us from trader ordinary or middlemen," said Gibran.

On the other hand, the company also sees that many fish farmers have used eFishery as a cooperative that can be a place to buy feed at affordable prices, get business capital, and as a platform to sell fish easily and conveniently.

"Initially, this sector did not have a touch of technology. Our focus is on providing technology to reduce economic inequality. By reducing economic inequality through technology, [eFishery] can improve their lives. Although not fully driven from us, but if there is a right solution impactit can be massive," said Gibran.

One service that was born from feedback from fish farmers is the PayLater program called Jones (Love, Pay Later), where cultivators who use eFishery can buy feed by paying later.

After doing run in Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and India, eFishery has plans to focus on expanding to only one country, namely India. This year their focus will be on launching commercial pilots and expectations for next year commercial roll out possible to do.

"On the other hand, during the last 3 years we have also focused on expanding the service area in Indonesia. The market is still large, but along the way we also want to see if there are opportunities that we need to start from now, so that we gain an understanding of the market," said Gibran .

Currently eFishery has served 26 provinces from Aceh, East Nusa Tenggara to North Sulawesi, as well as around 300 regencies and cities. What they have not worked on is the eastern part of Indonesia, such as the Maluku islands and Papua. eFishery's target in the next few years is to expand throughout Indonesia.

"The focus of eFishery is to stay focused on delivering value to farmers with operating model that light assets and scalable. eFishery also always focus on economic units", said Gabriel.

New fundraising potential

Currently eFishery is in the stage Series C with a total investment return of at least $115 million. Excluding startups that are aggressive in raising funds, Gibran emphasized when doing fundraising their focus is how these investors can provide more value (added value) and in line with the company's mission and vision.

Asked about the potential closing of a new round that could catapult the company into a new line of unicorns, Gibran declined to comment further.

"If it's from eFishery is about what we want to do. So what do we want to invest first, how much do we need, then from whom the fresh funds are also important for us. Having said that, there are investors that we are trying assess, but we have to make sure it is in line with our vision," he said.

Gibran added, currently there are also several strategic projects that they are currently working on piloting and is still in the early stages. If it is running and it turns out that more capital is needed, they will carry out fundraising activities.

"Since the Series A fundraising, eFishery has been able to manage the business well and has focused on profitability. So in the future investors will support what we have done," said Gibran.

He continued, "Currently there are around 40 Indonesian startups targeting the financial sector aqua culture have received fresh funds from investors. We hope that eFishery can provide impact to them as a way to pave the way and eventually make some investors interested in investing in this sector."