(L-R) Semaai co-founders Muhammad Yoga Anindito, Gaurav Batra, and Abishek Gupta
Indonesian agritech startup Semaai has secured US$4.7 million (approximately IDR 73 billion) in a mix of equity and debt financing led by CyberAgent Capital (Japan).
New investors Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia, Ruvento, MyAsiaVC, and Heracles Ventures, besides existing backers Peak XV’s Surge, Accion Venture Lab, and Beenext, participated. This brings its total funding raised to date to US$7.6 million.
“With the new funding, our company will collaborate with financial institutions and fintech providers to expand our embedded fintech solutions, having already doubled Semaai’s total transaction volume in the last 12 months. This is part of our goal to provide an integrated digital ecosystem that addresses disruptions in the supply chain and fills knowledge gaps for Indonesia’s agri-retailers and smallholder farmers,” said Muhammad Yoga Anindito, Co-Founder and CEO of Semaai.
Also Read: Semaai nets funding to create integrated digital ecosystem for farmers, toko tanis in Indonesia
It will also use the new funds to expand its agronomy advisory service to agri-retailers and farmers and strengthen its presence in Central Java. Semaai plans to cover 75 per cent of the over 8,2001 villages by the end of 2024.
Semaai is a ‘farmer-first’ company building full-stack agritech solutions to help farmers and rural MSMEs such as toko tanis in Indonesia maximise their earning potential and access better financing, services and new markets.
The agritech firm provides three essential services:
- B2B digital marketplace for agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilisers,
- agronomy advisory services to improve their farming practices. The agronomy advisory service allows access to educational content organised by crop type and focused on crop-related pests and diseases. The content aids users in thoroughly understanding the complexities of crop issues and empowers them to prepare to mitigate and address future problems. Users are then recommended products from Semaai’s marketplace platform, culminating in hassle-free doorstep delivery,
- financial services in partnership with financial institutions and fintech providers.
Semaai claims its net revenue has increased over 15x in the last 12 months, and its Toko Tani marketplace user base has doubled. Furthermore, its advisory feature has witnessed an 8x increase in adoption in the last six months and is used by most of Semaai’s active users.
Also Read: The opportunities and challenges Singapore’s agritech sector faces
In February 2023, Semaai closed a bridge funding round led by Accion Venture Lab and XA Network.
Indonesia’s agricultural sector, together with forestry and fisheries, grew 1.46 per cent every year and 1.61 per cent on a quarterly basis. Badan Pusat Statistik 2023 data shows that the agricultural sector contributed 12.71 per cent of the country’s total GDP.
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