eFishery Receives Funding from Japanese Agricultural Bank

The Norinchukin Bank business unit, a loan company from Japan that focuses on working on the agricultural sector, immediately injected millions of US dollars worth of investment into unicorn Indonesia's first aquatech, eFishery.

Reporting from Nikkei Asia, Norinchukin Capital will channel investment through a managed fund which it launched last May, targeting startups in the fields of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and decarbonization. This action will also be Norinchukin Capital's first global investment.

For the record, this is not the first time that eFishery has obtained loans from banking institutions. First of DBS Bank Indonesia 500 billion in the form of short-term loans (loan) in October 2022. Second, earlier this year Bank OCBC NISP disbursed bilateral loans worth IDR 250 billion.

This year eFishery has officially been named the 15th unicorn in Indonesia after announcing its acquisition series D pendanaan funding worth $200 million or more than IDR 3 trillion led by 42XFund, an investment management company from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In the midst of a liquidity crisis and deceleration investment that took place in Indonesia, eFishery proves that local solutions that are worked on properly can realize great achievements. After reaching a milestone unicorn, also seeing high investor interest, the company is considering an IPO in the next 2-3 years.

Founded by Gibran Huzaifah, Muhammad Ihsan Akhirulsyah, and Chrisna Aditya in 2013, eFishery has transformed into a comprehensive service for the fishing industry. They provide solutions from upstream to downstream, from helping fish and shrimp cultivators to increase the effectiveness of their ponds, marketing them, to connecting to end customers.

The integrated ecosystem of eFishery has supported more than 70.000 fish farmers and shrimp farmers in more than 280 cities/regencies throughout Indonesia.

In addition to strengthening its market share in Indonesia, eFishery is reportedly starting to look at foreign markets. Early 2022 when it was announced $90 million series C funding, they are targeting expansion into the ten largest aquaculture countries, such as India and China.

Fishery industry potential

As a maritime country, Indonesia has a large fishing industry potential that meets four indicators of measuring food security, including food prices, supply availability, nutritional quality, and sustainability and adaptation.

This is reinforced by the fact that Indonesia is currently the second largest aquaculture producing country in the world with a production volume of 14,8 million tonnes. Based on FAO predictions, Indonesian aquaculture will grow by 26% in 2030.

Based on data from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP), exports for fishery products amounted to USD 4,56 billion in 2021, of which 40% was contributed by shrimp commodities.

In line with the data from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Indonesia is predicted to become the world's largest aquaculture country. In Indonesia, there are already several startups aquatech which are already operational, including Fishlog, JALA, DELOS, and FisTx.