Clockwise from top left: Aldi Adrian Hartanto (Arise), Nathasya Budidjaja (Arise), Irvan Kolonas (Agriaku), Dhanny Handoko (Agriaku)
Indonesian agritech startup Agriaku has raised an undisclosed seed funding round led by Arise, a fund that was the result of a collaboration between MDI Ventures and Finch Capital. Wright Partners and MDI Ventures also participated in the funding round.
The startup plans to use the new funding to increase the number of farmers on board their platform as part of the effort to penetrate Indonesia’s US$17 billion worth of agriculture market.
Founded in May by Irvan Kolonas (a serial agriculture entrepreneur and CEO at Vasham, a company that builds financial and operational solutions for agriculture industry players) and Danny Handoko (Ex-CEO and Co-Founder of hospitality startup Airy Indonesia), AgriAku aims to solve problems that exist in the agriculture value chain from principals, supply chain, retailers, and farmers.
In a press statement, the startup said that despite agriculture being the largest GDP contributor in Indonesia, its upstream market is fragmented and sufficient. “The problems primarily revolve around the multi-layered nature of the supply chain, causing a lack of data insights for decision-making and limited knowledge and financing capabilities for farmers,” it wrote.
Agriaku builds a marketplace that connects agricultural supply stores with manufacturers or first-level distributors. The company said that this model allows farmers to procure a full catalogue of SKUs of agri-inputs with ease and at a nominally competitive price point.
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Moving forward, Agriaku said it will continue to expand its offerings to become a one-stop solution for agricultural services, catering to the needs of the different stakeholders in the agricultural industry.
The company said that it is “amplifying the playbook of” DeHaat, an India-based agritech startup that has recently scored a US$115 million Series D funding round from Lightrock, Sequoia Capital India, and Temasek Holdings, among others.
“We believe that our approach of empowering local toko tani (agricultural supply shop) as our last mile agents to distribute a full stack of product and services for smallholder farmers in Indonesia has the potential to disrupt an industry that so far has been resistant to change,” said Irvan Kolonas, President and Co-Founder of Agriaku.
Since its inception, Agriaku said that it has empowered more than 6,000 small agribusinesses and thousands of smallholders farmers in Indonesia.
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Image Credit: Agriaku
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