eFishery's Funding History Since 2015 Now Plagued by Alleged Fraud Case

Tracxn data reveals that the startup eFishery has received funding since at least 2015.

On January 30, 2015, eFishery received US$500,000, or more than Rp8 billion (assuming an exchange rate of Rp16,172 per US$). This funding was provided by Seedstars as a grant.

Later that year, on September 8, eFishery received seed funding from Aqua Spark and Ideosource, although the amount was not publicly disclosed.

Tracxn explains that new funding arrived three years later. On November 13, 2018, eFishery received US$4 million (Rp64.68 billion) in Series A funding from Aqua Spark, Maloekoe Ventures, Social Capital, Unreasonable Capital, Triputra Group, 500 Durians, and Wavemaker Partners.

Further funding was received on August 12, 2020, but the amount was not publicly disclosed. The investors included GO VC, Northstar Group, Aqua Spark, Endeavor, and Wavemaker Partners.

According to Tracxn's funding timeline, significant funding occurred in 2023. In fact, at least three funding rounds were completed that year, as shown in the graph.

The largest publicly disclosed funding round was on July 7, 2023, amounting to US$200 million (Rp3.23 trillion).

Tracxn compiled data showing 9 funding rounds over this period, with a total disclosed value of US$294 million from 28 institutional investors.

Note that this data may not represent the total funding received by eFishery. In contrast to Tracxn's data, CB Insights reports 15 funding rounds totaling US$590.87 million.

eFishery is currently embroiled in an alleged fraud case. Katadata reported that a leaked investigation report indicates that eFishery's management allegedly misrepresented profits to investors, claiming profits while actually incurring losses.

The fishery startup is also estimated to have embezzled nearly US$600 million (Rp9.8 trillion, using an exchange rate of Rp16,331 per US$) between January and September 2024.

According to a 52-page draft of the initial investigation report circulating among investors and reviewed by Bloomberg News, eFishery told investors that the company had a profit of US$16 million (Rp261.3 billion) and revenue of US$752 million (Rp12.3 trillion) during January-September 2024. In reality, eFishery incurred a loss of US$35.4 million (Rp578 billion), and its revenue was estimated at US$157 million (Rp2.6 trillion).

"Management also inflated revenue and profit figures for several previous years," the report stated, as quoted by the Straits Times on Wednesday, January 22.

Katadata.co.id confirmed this with eFishery's management, but they were unable to provide a response.

(See Katadata: [link to Katadata article])

The following details eFishery's funding according to Tracxn:

* May 31, 2024
Value: US$30 million
Category: Debt
Investor: HSBC
* July 7, 2023
Value: US$200 million
Category: Series D
Investors: 42XFund, responsAbility, 500 Global, Northstar Ventures, Temasek, SoftBank, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan.
* February 13, 2023
Value: US$16.5 million
Category: Debt
Investor: OCBC NISP
* October 7, 2022
Value: US$32 million
Category: Debt
Investor: DBS Bank
* January 11, 2022
Value: US$90 million
Category: Series C
Investors: SoftBank Vision Fund, Temasek, GO VC, Northstar Group, Aqua Spark, Peak XV Partners, Wavemaker Partners
* August 12, 2020
Value: Undisclosed
Category: Series B
Investors: GO VC, Northstar Group, Aqua Spark, Endeavor, Wavemaker Partners
* November 13, 2018
Value: US$4 million
Category: Series A
Investors: Aqua Spark, Maloekoe Ventures, Social Capital, Unreasonable Capital, Triputra Group, 500 Durians, Wavemaker Partners
* September 8, 2015
Value: Undisclosed
Category: Seed
Investors: Aqua Spark, Ideosource
* January 30, 2015
Value: US$500,000
Category: Grant
Investor: Seedstars.

(See also: [link to databoks article])