Chennai, India-based aquaculture technology platform Aquaconnect has raised USD 15 million (EUR 14 million) in a Series A funding round to fuel its business expansion.
The round was led by India’s Lok Capital and participated in by Louis Dreyfus Company Ventures, Suneight Investment, and existing investors such as Omnivore, Rebright Partners, Flourish Ventures, HATCH, and others.
The funds will be allocated towards improving Aquaconnect’s portfolio of scalable artificial intelligence and satellite remote sensing solutions and expand its service offerings in both the pre-harvest and post-harvest segments of the aquaculture value chain to input retailers, seafood buyers, and other stakeholders.
Aquaconnect said it currently has a network of more than 500 AquaPartners, its own term for entrepreneurs in rural areas who provide assistance in the final step of the company’s value chain, and serves more than 90,000 fish and shrimp farmers. The company targets tripling the AquaPartner network across India as part of its plan to strengthen its pre-harvest segment.
“We’ve added about 500 AquaPartners in the last 12 months and this phygital network has helped us scale phenomenally across six major aquaculture production states. In the next 12 months, we are set to triple our AquaPartners’ network across India and optimize our service offerings,” Aquaconnect Founder and CEO Rajamanohar Somadundaram said.
Aquaconnect said it has maintained a strong logistics infrastructure in India's rural and coastal regions with supply chain capabilities and fulfilment centers in several strategic locations, allowing the company to conduct overnight delivery to its partners across the country.
The company aims to harness its post-harvest segment by expanding its seafood market linkage across domestic markets in India. In addition, Aquaconnect is looking to increase seafood exports to major markets including the U.S., China, and Japan, and is eyeing gaining a notable share in the global blue protein business.
“We have been operating our domestic market linkages and overseas exports under stealth. As our pilots have shown great success, our team is geared up to scale the success we have achieved and enhance our [business-to-business] offerings in the next 12 to 18 months”, Somasundaram said. “The next 12 to 18 months will be challenging and exciting at the same time, the fresh funds will help us to accelerate our efforts and strengthen tech capabilities and bring efficiency and transparency in the aquaculture value chain."
Prior to this latest funding round, in July 2021, Aquaconnect raised USD 4 million (EUR 3.8 million) in a pre-Series A round from Rebright, Flourish Ventures, and AgFunder.
Photo courtesy of Aquaconnect
