Local Biotech Startup Moosa Genetics Gets Pre-Seed Funding from East Ventures and Angel Investors

Animal genomics startup Moosa Genetics received pre-seed funding from East Ventures at an undisclosed amount after previously relying on bootstrapped. Amount angel investors participate in this funding.

Moosa Genetics was founded in 2016 Dr. Ivan R Sini, PhD (Chairman), supported by Dr. Deddy F. Kurniawan, DVM (co-CEO), Jeremia Michael Sutandy (Co-CEO and Managing Director), Prof. Arief Boediono, PhD (Chief Scientific Officer), and Ir. Sigit Prastowo, PhD (Chief Geneticist Officer).

Its mission is to reformulate and set new standards for the best quality in the Indonesian livestock industry. Moosa will leverage the investment to build a laboratory, team, marketing and wagyu beef partnerships to meet customer demand.

"Through modern animal reproductive and molecular technology, it allows us to produce better quality meat at lower prices, thus providing great benefits to the industry and consumers. We hope to bring more enthusiasm to this field in the future," said Dr. Ivan, who is also the General Chair of the Indonesian Genomics Association, said in his official statement.

"Moosa Genetics' innovative approach to cattle farming through biotechnology has the potential to drive a revolution in the livestock industry, addressing important challenges and demands in the livestock sector, while ensuring sustainable food production and increasing domestic food security," said Avina Sugiarto, Partner at East Ventures.

Throughout this year, East Ventures continues to invest in the health sector, especially genomics and biotechnology. Some of his latest portfolios are Mesh Bio and AMILI.

In a report entitled "Genomics: Leapfrogging into the Indonesian healthcare future", genomics and biotechnology have the potential to transform the health care ecosystem in Indonesia. There are four main pillars needed to encourage optimal implementation, namely infrastructure, investment, human resources and regulations.

Fragmented

Furthermore, Moosa assessed that so far the cattle farming industry in Indonesia has been fragmented. As much as 80% is dominated by small-scale breeders, the majority of which are located on the island of Java. Meanwhile, East Java accounts for 30% of the cattle population in Indonesia.

In addition, farmers often rely on savings for cattle maintenance costs rather than for the commercial market. This significantly hampers the potential for domestic meat supplies. Most breeders do not have adequate skills to handle production systems, as well as develop their businesses due to limited costs and access to loans.

The above conditions mean that domestic production is only able to meet around 40% of Indonesia's beef demand, and causes Indonesia's dependence on beef imports, especially from Australia.

Moosa Genetics develops biotechnological innovations, utilizing embryo transfer technology and innovative gene selection techniques, such as CRISPR (selective DNA modification). Innovation is considered to be able to improve meat quality and reduce costs. The company is also working to improve a local breed of cattle under the name "Red and White Cow" to achieve superior standards.

He believes there is no single solution for improving genetics that can determine the ideal version of local cattle for Indonesia. "To address these challenges, Moosa Genetics emphasizes the importance of collaboration between industry stakeholders, platform providers and researchers dedicated to comprehensively assessing and measuring improvements against current cattle husbandry standards." Close Dr. Ivan.