Go-Ventures Leads Pre-Series A Funding of 86 Billion Rupiah for Agritech Startup AgriAku

Agricultural startup focused on supply chain solutions, AgriAKU, announced the acquisition of Pre-Series A funding of $6 million or more than 86 billion Rupiah led by Go-Ventures. previous investors, MDI Arise also participated, followed by MDI Centauri, Mercy Corps Social Venture Fund, and several angel investors.

The company plans to use this fresh fund for three things; Develop teams aggressively in the areas of operations, supply chain, product and technology; Strengthening the penetration of agri-supply B2B marketplaces across the country; and Enrich the innovation and capability of the product ecosystem to improve the agricultural value chain in Indonesia.

Indonesia's agricultural industry is considered to have a significant contribution to the economy, around 13,5% of GDP. However, upstream agricultural markets are highly fragmented with unorganized value chains for agricultural supplies such as seeds, fertilizers and chemicals. Both farmers, suppliers and retailers face the same problems - supply and price instability, inefficient manual workflows, and limited access to formal finance.

"AgriAKU's B2B input market platform is ideally positioned to increase price transparency and market access for all stakeholders in the agricultural input sector. Over time, we expect AgriAku to significantly increase farmer productivity and improve farmers' standard of living," said Partner Go-Ventures. Aditya Kamath.

AgriI, which was founded by Irvan Kolonas and Danny Handoko in 2021, has a mission to create a transparent network between all stakeholders in the agricultural product supply chain system. One approach, they build a market called "Farmers Shop", connected with first-tier producers or distributors. This method is claimed to allow farmers to get a complete catalog of agricultural products at a much more affordable price.

At the end of last February, the company officially introduced the update of the AgriAku application for Partners on the Google Play Store. This platform provides the most complete range of agricultural products compared to ordinary farmer shops, ranging from seeds, medicines and nutrients, fertilizers and also agricultural tools. With the AgriAKU recording and cash register system, agents can also make accurate digital records so that they can simplify their work and accelerate business development.

AgriAku is not the first agricultural startup funded by an investment unit Gojek this. Previously, Go-Ventures also led the continued funding of online grocery startups Fresh and several startups with similar business models, including eFishery (Fresh), FoodMarketHub, and KitaBeli. This strategic action strengthens the business Gojek to strengthen the line online groceries.

Agriculture startups in Indonesia

For hundreds of years, Indonesia has been known as an agricultural region and has exported many commodities and foodstuffs around the world. However, until now, the agricultural industry is still considered not to provide a fair opportunity for farmers to improve their quality of life and business. As the world's population increases to 8 billion, with Indonesia contributing about 280 million, the role of the agricultural sector will be even greater to meet the growing human needs.

In a publication entitled "Yielding Next Gen. Agri Conglomerate Leveraging Tech Orchestration", Arise highlights four pain points main in value chain agriculture. These are limited access to capital, fragmented and inefficient supply chains, lack of access to technology, and price uncertainty due to climate change.

While this sector has enormous industrial potential, its value could exceed $500 billion of global GDP by 2030. Asia Pacific itself has the potential to contribute 8,2% of the total value. Seeing this trend, in the global arena of investment for startups argitech also continues to increase from year to year. In 2020, there were approximately 834 funding deals, accounting for more than $6,7 billion.

Several agritech players whose names are already popular in Indonesian society and have become soonicorn including Tanihub, Eden Farm, Aruna, and eFishery. New player Goodbye also last month posted fresh funds from Surge and Beenext.

Ecosystem of digital solutions for the agricultural sector / Arise