With participation from AgFunder, Trihill Capital, BIG Ventures, and TNB Aura, Eratani, an Indonesia-based agritech management company, has received US $3.8 million in a seed round. In June, the business secured US $1.6 million in a pre-seed round.
In a statement, Eratani pointed out that the Indonesian agriculture industry is still very fragmented, with independent farmers having inadequate access to markets, resources, and funding. The company also stated that 75% of local farmers continue to employ conventional farming techniques.
In addition to scientific agri-input instructions, agricultural education, and the dissemination of their agri-output for commerce, the firm provides farmers with access to field data statistics for productivity.
The company, which was established in 2021 by former Gojek executives Andrew Soeherman, Kevin Laksono, and Angles Gani, as well as the former Indocyber Global Teknologi business development head, has already signed up 10,000 farmers on the island of Java. It has assisted in the management of 8,000 hectares of land and the production of 52,000 tonnes of rice by farmers in the first year of operation.
The additional money will be utilised to expand operations, improve farming management programmes, enter new Indonesian regions, strengthen core operations, and sign up 50,000 farmers by the end of 2024.
Eratani has also committed to helping food independence activities in its own country by working with the Startup Studio Indonesia of the Ministry of Communications and Informatics of Indonesia, the Agricultural Ministry of Indonesia, and the Indonesian State Logistics Agency.
