Delos raises series A to propel Indonesia’s shrimp exports

Photo credit: Delos

Indonesia’s seafood industry has grown in prominence in the tech sector, especially with new unicorn eFishery. This has led to a smattering of new startups looking to capitalize on products like shrimp: Indonesia produced almost 1 million tonnes of it in 2021 and is looking to bump that up to 2 million tonnes by 2024.

One such startup is Delos. The aquaculture company has raised an undisclosed amount in the first close of its series A round, which is led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.

The company will use the funding for product development, aiming to decrease production costs and improve disease monitoring, water quality management, feed conversion ratios, and yields.

Funding details

• Funding amount: Undisclosed
• Lead investor: Monk’s Hill Ventures
• Stage: Series A
• Source

Founded in 2021, Delos offers two main products: AquaHero and AquaLink.

AquaHero is a farm management app that uses data to predict and reduce harvest risk, increase yields, and maintain profitability.

For example, AquaHero measures water quality data assessed and tested by Delos’ team. The app also tracks the condition and growth of shrimp as well as gives recommendations for farmers to increase their yields.

AquaLink, meanwhile, is a harvesting and logistics platform that oversees seafood supply across the value chain. The feature tackles anything from the selection of fry and feed to direct sales to global markets.

The company previously said that it aims to have shrimp exports to countries like Japan and the US by early next year. Currently, Delos produces and distributes thousands of tons of shrimp in Indonesia annually.

“The Indonesian aquaculture sector has been in sore need of an upgrade for the past few decades,” said Delos CEO Guntur Mallarangeng. “Improving our aquaculture industry’s adoption of best-in-class technologies and practices would help us realize its true potential.”

Delos is not alone in this goal. In addition to freshwater fish, eFishery also facilitates sales of shrimp.

The unicorn, which counts companies like Temasek and SoftBank as investors, recently raised US$200 million to help it reach 1 million aquaculture ponds in Indonesia by 2025.