East Ventures has been actively investing in Indonesian agritech startups

2016-07-21 (2)

Indonesian agritech startup Eragano announced that they have raised early stage funding from East Ventures, at an undisclosed amount.

The Bandung-based startup plans to use the funding to develop its team and accelerate technological and marketplace development for the next harvest season.

“Small farmers have always been pressured by loan sharks and middlemen. They have to buy expensive tools and products to support farming, but they have to sell their harvest at very low prices. They also have limited access to microloan and is very susceptible to financial risks when the harvest fails. Eragano has a great opportunity to create a significant impact in farmers’ life,” said Eragano CEO Stephanie Jesselyn in a statement.

About 15 per cent of Indonesian citizens are small farmers, and Eragano aims to help them improve their livelihood with an end-to-end solution in a form of a mobile app. Farmers can use the app to access information related to agriculture, get connected to microloan facilities, and even sell their products to hotels and restaurants through an online marketplace.

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Founded by Jesselyn dan Aris Hendrawan, the startup claims to have been working with 38 farmers across Pangalengan and Lembang, West Java.

The agritech sector in Indonesia seems to be on the rise lately. Not only that President Joko Widodo had recently announced five startups that will work together with the government to help farmers improve their income by cutting middlemen, e27 also noticed an increase in investment in agriculture and related sectors lately.

Prior to Eragano, in 2016 alone East Ventures had invested in iGrow and Limakilo.

Online marketplace for agricultural products and tools Sikumis has also announced its pivot in March.

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