ARIA Gets Another 74 Billion Rupiah Funding Led by East Ventures

Startups agritech ARIA announced a $5 million (over 74 billion Rupiah) funding round led by East Ventures, a previous investor that participated in pre-start round in March 2022. Triputra Group and GK-Plug & Play again participated in this round, along with other strategic investors, such as Michael Sampoerna and Arkana Ventures.

This fresh fund will be allocated by ARIA to help farmers build mechanized farming systems with empowerment drone, ensure good and targeted product development, and IoT development. This system continues to be developed with specific targets for farmers for the advancement of agriculture in Indonesia.

ARIA Co-founder & CEO William Sjaichudin said that the acquisition of this fresh fund was a strong proof of ARIA's belief in developing the Indonesian agricultural sector by utilizing digital solutions. "We believe the solutions we present can unlock the greatest potential of the agricultural industry in Indonesia, as well as create a positive impact on the development of Indonesia as a whole," he said in an official statement, Monday (29/8).

East Ventures partner Melisa Irene also shared the decision behind East Ventures to double its investment in ARIA. According to him, his party has seen the positive developments presented by ARIA in providing better digital solutions for farmers.

"With the huge potential in Indonesia's agriculture sector, we believe ARIA will be the right solution in integrating digital and agricultural solutions to empower more farmers in Indonesia," said Melisa.

ARIA Achievements

Along with this announcement, he continued, ARIA also launched its first application, "ARIA TANI". This application is a comprehensive solution for B2C to provide integrated agricultural services. ARIA TANI is powered by IoT technology and connectivity to increase productivity on large-scale plantations in Indonesia.

"This application offers the use of drones as the main service and is integrated with other product services, such as fertilizers, agrochemicals, and agricultural equipment, to ensure farmers can receive their services in a timely manner."

For the record, ARIA was founded in October 2021 by William Sjaichudin, Arden Lim (CPO) and Yosa Rosario (COO). They realize that one of the biggest problems in the agricultural sector in Indonesia is the decline in the number of farmers which is increasingly worrying. This condition makes the watering process and harvesting difficult due to limited manpower, which also results in decreased plant quality, high risk of crop failure and causes losses to farmers.

ARIA is also developing IoT solutions for tracking workers (worker tracker). this development has a focus on increasing the visibility of smallholders on large-scale plantations, as well as addressing poor connectivity in difficult field conditions. This solution is combined with mechanization of fertilization through drone sprayers to increase the efficiency of working time and the use of raw materials in plantations at the stages of spraying, fertilizing, and up to the harvesting process.

“With the development of IoT innovations in agricultural applications, ARIA provides a solution to increase visibility in difficult field conditions with worker tracker which can increase work time efficiency, as well as drone sprayers which provides mechanical fertilization services. With this solution, farmers get the results of land analysis and accurate information about fertilizer needs in designated areas and increase fertilization efficiency in the field," said ARIA Co-Founder and CPO Arden Lim.

“In 2022, we will collaborate with ARIA to support the Precision Forestry Project in Jambi Province. ARIA quickly adapts and achieves more than 95% quantitative achievements in 3 months, which is a testament to the performance that prioritizes customer satisfaction. We hope that ARIA's achievements can be further enhanced through current and future collaborations," said Umar Hadi Sucipto, Remote Sensing Coordinator of Sinar Mas Forestry.

Arden said, the company will continue to develop its infrastructure network and quickly establish distribution points in 17 branches spread throughout Indonesia. The goal is to reach potential markets, facilitate the purchase of large drone fleets, and develop a key IoT asset in the form of tracking technology, thereby bringing added value and meaningful impact to ARIA customers.

Within months of implementation, ARIA had secured the exclusive rights to drone spraying in Indonesia from Bayer Agrochemicals. This achievement proves the quality and consistent dedication to services that are utilized and supported by 17 ARIA service branches throughout the archipelago. ARIA also secured a forest mapping contract with APP for 300 thousand Hectare QC Weeding, with best-in-class results and amplifying excellence with image quality and acceptance of 97%, setting the new standard in quality of work.