How this chicken startup is standing out from the flock

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Hello reader,

I’m a big fan of chicken. One of my “talents” (according to my friends) is my ability to stretch out a single rotisserie chicken across several meals. Put it in a sandwich, add it to macaroni, toss it in some salad, use the carcass to make soups … the possibilities are endless.

Indonesia’s poultry industry also seems to have boundless potential. The country’s 270 million people eat more than 2.2 billion tonnes of chicken meat a year, and chicken consumption is expected to reach 9.3 kilograms per capita by 2029 – up from 8.2 kilograms per capita in 2022. That’s a lot of chicken.

It’s no surprise then that startups like Pitik are trying to get in on this age-old industry. We take a closer look at the Indonesia-based company in today’s newsletter.

Today we look at:

• The fowl business of Indonesian startup Pitik
• An Indian startup that sells fresh meat and fish
• Other newsy highlights such as 500 Global’s new partners in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong’s crypto trading plans

Premium summary

Why did the chicken start a startup?

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Launched in 2019, Pitik aims to help chicken farmers increase production and do business more efficiently. Its main source of revenue is selling chicken feed to smallholder farmers and buying back the chicken when they’re ready to be harvested. The company then distributes those live chickens directly to wholesalers and wet markets.

• Some numbers: The startup said its revenue hit US$12.2 million in October 2022. – a 20x growth from the US$600,000 it made in the same month a year earlier, according to a recent presentation seen by Tech in Asia. However, Pitik declined to confirm these figures.
• Competition is stiff: That said, its revenue is still far lower than the earnings of publicly listed poultry firms like Charoen Pokphand Indonesia, the country’s largest producer of poultry feed and processed chicken. Pitik also competing with other chicken startups in the country, such as Chickin and BroilerX.
• Standing out from the pack: Pitik is attractive to farmers because of its transparency, offering a clear partnership scheme and profit calculation, with a legally binding contract. It also provides IoT solutions, such as equipment that alerts farmers when the chicken coop’s temperature is too high or too low. The startup certainly seems to have found its niche, but the next question will be that of scale.

Read more: Indonesian chicken startup’s 20x revenue jump sees it take off

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