eFishery - An Aquaculture Unicorn
Tech in the fastest growing segment of the global food system has attracted big-name VCs
Get ready to see headlines like this more often.
+Aquatech startup eFishery raises $108m Series D to reach unicorn status - AgFunder News
Emerging market tech companies in the booming aquaculture segment with billion-dollar valuations are sure to be a more regular sight in the coming years.
After all, aquaculture is the fastest growing segment of the global food industry and is critical to feeding a 10 billion-person global population.
Some Aquaculture Stats
Fastest growing segment of the global food industry
Production reached 122.6 million tonnes in 2020 with a value of USD 281.5 billion
Asia dominates with 92% of aquaculture production
Small-scale enterprises contribute over 80% of production volume in Asia
Chile, China, and Norway are leading producers in their respective regions
About eFishery
eFishery CEO Gibran Huziafah learned about the challenges of running a fish farm firsthand by starting a catfish farming business while in college. He soon learned what all participants in this sector know; it’s all about the feed.
Feed for farmed fish represents up to 90% of the operating cost of an aquaculture operation, yet for the most part, this critical input is managed by hand with little data regarding waste and efficiency.
However, Huziafah notes in the video below,
“Around 20% of the nutrition is wasted and accumulates at the bottom of the tank.”
The potential for efficiency and cost savings in feeding fish is critical to operational success and profitability, but also to managing and significantly reducing the environmental footprint of the industry.
“Farmer’s net profit can be doubled because of the improvement”.
Tech in Aquaculture - The Feed to Finance Playbook
Technology adoption in aquaculture, especially in emerging economies, is particularly challenging. A boots-on-the-ground approach is required, and connecting with local stakeholders isn’t always straightforward despite the potential cost savings for those involved.
However, the potential for scale is enticing, and the market potential is huge.
Tech companies in this space are following a similar playbook of bundling IoT monitoring and measurement technologies with ag-tech and fintech services to bring not only operational solutions but marketplace solutions as well.
Familiar challenges in scaling solutions to a fragmented industry of small-scale farmers have created a playbook for companies rolling out tech in aquaculture.
Looking at eFishery (Indonesia), Eachmile (Singapore), and Aquaconnect (India), you’ll find a similar suite of tools to meet the needs of their target audience.
Tech targeted to physical needs of farmers - feed efficiency, traceability, IoT, sensors, and data aggregation.
Scaled access to education and boots on the ground credibility
Fintech layer providing marketplace services and/or credit
If you compare the path of eFishery with Indian aquaculture startup Aquaconnect, you’ll see that this suite of services - from feed to financing to b2b connection - is a familiar playbook.
A Look at the Investors
It is telling to look at the investor list as this company has made its journey to unicorn status.
Early investors such as Aqua-Spark (eFishery) and HATCH (Aquaconnect) are specialist investors in the aquaculture space and bring deep industry experience to these companies.
Growth capital came from more ‘household’ tech VCs such as Sequoia Capital, Temasek, and SoftBank.
Aquaculture has the demographic tailwinds these investors seek, coupled with plenty of room for technological process improvement.
Addressing Aquacultures Challenges
Aquaculture is not without its challenges. But this ancient industry that has largely been ignored by technological innovation isn’t going away, so it simply must be improved.
Solutions found in this market will then trickle out to other large emerging markets like India with a developed aquaculture industry that is similar in many ways to Asia, to Africa where aquaculture has the potential to grow rapidly and indeed needs to.
Links
+India overtakes China as the world’s most populous country - UN DESA
+Global IoT for fisheries and aquaculture market size worth $1.5bn by 2021; CAGR 12.1% - Yahoo Finance
+As Louis Dreyfus invests, Aquaconnnect ramps up model to become integrated supplier-buyer in Indian shrimp farming - IntraFish
+Aqua-Spark launches Africa fund to ignite the next iteration of sustainable aquaculture in Sub-Saharan Africa - Aqua-Spark