December 22, 2022

 

India-based Aquaconnect secures $15 million in Series A round

 

 

India-based aquaculture management platform Aquaconnect has secured a $15 million in a Series A round, and will use the new capital to build up its product portfolio for both pre-harvest and post-harvest services.

 

The round was led by Lok Capital with participation from Louis Dreyfus Company Ventures and Suneight Investment. Other investors, including AgFunder, Omnivore, Rebright Partners, Flourish Ventures and HATCH, along with other debt investors, also participated.

 

Speaking in a statement, Lok Capital partner Hari Krishnan said: "(India's seafood) industry is hampered by inefficiencies in the value chain and poses a huge scope for tech disruption. Yet, its true potential is untapped. Aquaconnect, with its deep-tech intervention, has the potential to disrupt the Indian aquaculture value chain and emerge as a key player in the growing blue food segment."

 

Aquaconnect addresses the seafood industry's inefficiencies with an aquaculture platform that organises and digitises supply chain logistics, and increases transparency into the overall value chain.

 

Aquaconnect's mobile app provides smallholder producers with a variety of tools and services across the value chain. Fish and shrimp farmers can access advisory services to increase farm productivity, manage elements like water quality and aquatic health, and connect with formal banks for financing.

 

The platform also includes a marketplace, where producers can buy inputs, and the Aquabazaar, which matches farmers with prospective buyers.

 

All these services aim to give smallholder shrimp and fish farmers greater yields ultimately bigger incomes.

 

Founded in 2017, Aquaconnect currently serves more than 90,000 fish and shrimp farmers. It also has a network of over 500 ‘last-mile' partners.

 

Aquaconnect company founder and chief executive officer Rajamanohar Somasundaram said these numbers have helped the company "scale phenomenally" throughout six major aquaculture production states in India, including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

 

"In the next 12 months, we are set to triple our AquaPartners' network across India and optimise our service offerings," he added.

 

Aquaconnect raised $4 million in pre-Series A funding last year.

 

- AFN