Profitable and sustainable goals

• Congratulations to 500-backed Indonesia-based eFishery for being the first startup in the global aquaculture industry to surpass a valuation of US$1B after raising a US$200M Series D! 
• The round was led by Abu Dhabi-based 42XFund and backed by 500 Global, KWAP, responsAbility, Northstar, Temasek, and SoftBank.
• When 500 Global first invested in eFishery’s Series A in 2018, they were serving farms in just 67 cities. Today, they serve 70,000 fish and shrimp farmers in 280 cities across the country, and aim to reach one million aquaculture ponds in Indonesia by 2025! eFishery also plans to expand overseas by exporting fully traceable, antibiotic-free shrimp.
• Indonesia has the second-largest fishing and aquaculture industry in the world, and eFishery is already contributing to 1.55% of Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the aquaculture sector in 2022.
• Co-founder & CEO Gibran Huzaifah said Indonesia has only reached 7% to 9% of its total aquaculture potential, and localization of the company’s approach is key to meeting the needs of the 34 provinces across Indonesia, which is highly fragmented in its business practices.
• “I found it quite ironic that many innovations are developed to solve issues for urban citizens, like online shopping and food deliveries, but the essential sectors, such as agriculture and aquaculture, see almost zero digital innovation,” he shared.
• Khailee Ng, Managing Partner at 500 Global said, “I believe that eFishery has truly proven to be unique in terms of business model innovation, proving the trifecta of scale, growth at scale, and profitability over a multi-year period, even before becoming a company valued at over a billion dollars. This is the kind of business Silicon Valley can strive to create.”
• Read the full story on TechCrunch.