The biggest fish in SEA’s aquaculture space

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Hello reader,

I have been lucky enough to spend most of my life near the sea. Coastal folk across the globe will probably tell you that there is a certain alluring charm about the beach, and they’re not wrong. In the city of Chennai, the friendly yet sprawling fishing community has been a big part of that charm.

Living in the capital of Tamil Nadu and one of India’s busiest coastal cities, it is almost impossible not to get entwined with the marine fishers. Slightly over a million of them ply their trade across the state’s 1,000-kilometer coastline.

However, due to a lack of feasible alternatives, they deploy outdated – and in some places illegal – fishing methods like bottom trawling. This practice destroys the natural seafloor habitat by essentially rototilling the seabed, causing irreparable damage to the marine ecology.

The scenario above is screaming for technological intervention, and aquaculture may just provide the right solution. Today, we take a deep dive into Indonesia-based eFishery’s massive funding round and its ambitions of international expansion, with its eyes firmly set on India and other Southeast Asian markets.

Today we look at,

• The funding round of the lone behemoth of Indonesia’s aquaculture sector
• An Israel-based biotech firm’s US$93 million fundraise
• Other newsy highlights such as digital yuan’s debut at the Winter Olympics and BharatPe co-founder’s brewing legal battle

Also, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill in this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

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Making a splash

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Indonesia-based eFishery has just landed the largest-ever VC financing for an aquaculture startup globally. It raised US$90 million in a series C round co-led by Temasek Holdings, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Sequoia Capital India.

However, with a business model that has achieved positive EBITDA since 2020 and three key revenue drivers, eFishery is primed to make a splash as it eyes entry into other Southeast Asian markets.

• Two fish, one hook: Profitability did not come at the expense of topline growth for eFishery. The company says it has scaled its network tenfold since its last funding round in 2020, and the number of farmers in its ecosystem has increased by 1,248% over the past year.

Not immune to funding