The Mayani team
Mayani, an agri-fisheries startup providing sustainable market linkage to smallholder farmers and fisherfolk in the Philippines, has secured US$1.7 million in oversubscribed seed funding anchored by Silicon Valley agtech VC AgFunder through its GROW Impact Fund.
Atlas Ventures, Accelerating Asia Ventures, Ocean Impact Organization, TheVentures, and Plug and Play Ventures also joined.
Jimenez family (known for establishing broadcasting giant GMA), the families behind the Malaysian conglomerate OSK Group, and Philippine retailer Abenson Group also participated.
This deal marks AgFunder’s maiden investment in the Philippines.
Mayani’s technological stack was initially funded through grants from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
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Mayani began its supply chain operations in Southern Luzon by focusing on fresh lowland produce such as lettuce and eggplant. It has since expanded in various agri-categories, including poultry, processed commodities like Liberica coffee, and high-value fruits such as honeydew gold.
Currently, the startup directly sources harvests from a grassroots network of over 139,000 smallholder farmers across five regions in Philippines’s populous and largest island Luzon.
It then leverages demand-matched supply data to achieve efficiencies in a shorter route-to-market with fewer intermediaries as they deliver fresh produce and even sustainably caught seafood downstream to buyers. Those buyers comprise B2B players like international hotels and restaurants, food processors, and supermarket chains such as WalterMart, Robinsons Group, and MerryMart.
The resulting value chain creates cost savings on the part of buyers while making their supply chain more resilient and dependable.
On the other hand, the farmers’ farm-gate and post-catch incomes are boosted by at least 30 per cent while reducing food loss by 20 per cent.
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