Pitik Receives Series A Funding of 206 Billion Rupiah Led by Alpha JWC Ventures

Startup developer of livestock technology innovation "Pitik" today (19/5) announced the acquisition of series A funding worth $14 million or equivalent to 206 billion Rupiah. This round was led by Alpha JWC Ventures with participation from previous investors, namely MDI Ventures and Wavemaker Partners.

As previously reported, Pitik officially launched in mid-2021 initiated by Arief Witjaksono and Rymax Joehan. They are ambitious to bring technology solutions end-to-end empowering poultry farmers in Indonesia. This includes providing convenience in terms of financing and supply chain efficiency.

With this fresh fund, Pitik will expand its service ecosystem to more chicken farmers in Indonesia. Including by strengthening the team in all existing divisions.

In addition, Pitik will continue to develop advanced technologies and automation products that will increase agricultural productivity even further. The company is also targeting to establish a presence throughout the Java region this year and expand to other islands by 2023. The company will also expand its business into downstream services such as processing and distribution to end users.

Problems in poultry farming

The livestock sector in Indonesia has enormous economic value. According to data, chicken meat consumption in 2020 will reach 7,9 kg per capita, equivalent to 3,5 million kg per year. It is projected that it will continue to increase to 9,32 kilograms per capita in 2029.

However, Pitik still sees inefficiencies in the production system and supply chain of fresh chicken products. Poor production systems are considered to result in national poultry mortality rates 5-8x higher than the global average. Meanwhile, poor management makes annual revenue leakage up to 2 billion Rupiah per farm.

The solution presented by Pitik is in the form of a livestock management platform. The software is also connected with IoT-based sensors that are implemented in the enclosure --- generating a model smart farming. So that farmers can do more accurate monitoring related to the condition of the cage and the development of the poultry.

On the other hand, the platform also democratizes supply services, connecting farmers with trusted partners to sell their crops. Financing services are also provided to improve the business capabilities of farmers --- the resulting data is analyzed as the potential for livestock to produce credit score more credible.

Based on the latest data, the use of this service by Kawan Pitik (the name for farmer partners) is claimed to be able to reduce mortality rates by 50% and increase feed conversion ratios by 12% compared to the national average, which ultimately increases their income.

In the last 6 months, Pitik has increased the size of its agricultural network more than 10x through partnerships with hundreds of farmers in 53 districts in West Java and Central Java. From this network of breeders, Pitik currently sells more than 16 million chickens per year.

“We have proven that our technology is effective in helping farmers increase their yields and our ecosystem is capable of providing value-added services to farmers. Our big dream is to empower all poultry farmers in Indonesia through our integrated services and ensure we can improve their standard of living,” said Pitik Co-Founder & CEO Arief Witjaksono.

The growth of startups in the livestock sector

In the midst of Indonesia's potential as a livestock producer, several startups have come up with innovative solutions. Good for helping shrimp, fish, and poultry farmers. Besides Pitik, there are other players who are also trying to help streamline business processes in chicken farms, one of them Chickin. Starting from a B2B commerce chicken meat for horeka, now they are also developing IoT technology to optimize cage management.

Of course this is a breath of fresh air for business people. From the many researches that have been done, they are still face many classic issues. Such as access to capital and production inputs, production problems (such as feed inefficiency, disease, seed quality and cultivation technology), and post-production problems (such as low farm-gate prices due to long supply chains). Additional issues, such as inappropriate infrastructure and policies, also pose challenges.

The hope is, of course, that this supporting technology can really democratize the existing business model. With the ultimate goal of improving the quality of livestock products and income from farmers. Besides to make sure supply from the market is well met from domestic manufacturers.

“We have opened upstream business opportunities in the field of poultry farming. Expanding downstream means we can help farmers extract higher margins from the value chain. This is in line with our mission to be a partner of farmers at all points of the agricultural journey,” said Pitik Co-Founder & COO Rymax Joehana.

He continued, “Not only that, this also means we can provide healthier and higher quality chicken to Indonesian consumers because the products sold by Pitik are sourced from our network of farmers with the most stringent quality control and product monitoring standards.”