Heaptalk, Jakarta — Semaai, Indonesia-based agritech startup, obtained Pre-Series A funding worth US$4.7 million, approximately Rp72.9 billion, in equity and debt, led by CyberAgent Capital. New strategic investors also back this funding, spanning Sumimoto Corporation Equity Asia, Ruvento, MyAsiaVC, and Heracles Ventures. On the other hand, Semaai’s existing investors, including Surge as a part of Peak XVm Accion Venture Lab and Beenext, also back this funding.
The startup will allocate the injection to expand the farming consultation service addressing the farmers’ shops, collaborate with financial institutions to provide fintech solutions, and develop Semaai’s service in Central Java, with more than 8,200 villages. In its regional presence, the startup aims to reach around 75% by the end of 2024.
“Agriculture is the third contributor to Indonesia’s GDP, which indicates that this sector has enormous opportunities. However, I perceived that this sector could still be operated traditionally without significant digital implementation. As a result, productivity increases, and development opportunities are not utilized optimally. We believe in Semaa’s founders to revolutionize the Indonesian agricultural sector through an offline-to-online approach, especially the agricultural raw material supply chain issue,” said the Director of the Indonesian CyberAgent Office, Kevin Wijaya.
Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) disclosed that the nation’s agricultural sector contributed to the archipelago’s GDP up to Rp397 billion, representing 12.71%, and Indonesia’s agriculture, forestry, and fishery sectors increased to 1.46% annually and 1.61% quarterly.
Although contributing to the national economy, Indonesia’s agricultural industry must overcome multiple obstacles, such as financing access, a lengthy supply chain process, and a need for technological adoption. To resolve these barriers, Semaai provides three primary services devoted to the farmers and farming retailers, including:
- Digital marketplace for B2B to input agricultural needs, including seeds and fertilizers.
- Agricultural consulting services to elevate agricultural practices.
- Financing service through strategic cooperation with trusted financial institutions
Besides, this startup also releases the agricultural clinic feature in its platform to provide educational content arranged according to the types of plants and education about pests that attack plants. Semaai designed this educational content to help users thoroughly comprehend the complexity of plant problems.
Following this funding, Semaai has generated a total funding of US$7.6 million (around Rp118 billion). Regarding business performance, the agritech startup has increased its net revenue by over fifteen-fold, with the farming store marketplace users growing twofold. On the other hand, usage of the agricultural consultation feature has also increased eightfold in the last six months and will be used by most of Semaai’s active users.
“After successfully increasing the total transaction volume, this funding allows us to provide an integrated digital ecosystem that can overcome agricultural supply chain challenges and the knowledge gap between farmer shops and small farmers in Indonesia.” Semaai’s Co-Founder and CEO, Muhammad Yoga Anindito, said.
