EFishery ex-CEO shares how SoftBank, Temasek, Peak XV courted him

Gibran Huzaifah was eFishery’s CEO / Photo credit: eFishery

Former eFishery CEO Gibran Huzaifah has said that Dilhan Pillay, chief executive of Singapore’s Temasek, contacted him personally on WhatsApp to get an allocation on a US$90 million funding round in 2021, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Since Pillay has a reputation for rarely contacting founders for pitches, his outreach was a “a big deal,” the ex-eFishery boss said. Temasek declined to comment on Huzaifah’s remarks.

According to the interview, Huzaifah also secured an audience with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son during the pandemic in 2021.

Son, who was at his residence in Tokyo, stopped the former CEO’s presentation within 15 minutes of the 60-minute allocated session. Son’s team then sent Huzaifah a term sheet valuing eFishery at about US$200 million. SoftBank also refused to comment, although a source confirmed that figure.

Separately, Peak XV Partners – then known as Sequoia India – gave its proposal, which valued eFishery at more than US$300 million.

Peak XV, SoftBank, and Temasek then agreed on a funding offer valuing eFishery at US$410 million.

Huzaifah told Bloomberg that he had faked the financial figures to be shared with the investors, as eFishery then only had three months of runway. The ex-CEO also denied taking the missing funds, saying that the money was used for hiring, commissions, and debt payments.

Huzaifah has since started a frozen food business with his brother. Bloomberg asked the Indonesian police about the status of any probe into eFishery, but it did not reply.

FTI Consulting, which had taken over the startup’s management since the fallout, is still conducting an internal audit that began earlier this year. Huzaifah could also face legal action from eFishery investors.

See also: Gibran Huzaifah addresses eFishery fraud scandal for the first time