Aquaconnect, a full-stack aquaculture input and outputs platform, today announced that it has raised US$8 million (INR 60 crore) in a venture debt funding round led by venture debt firm Trifecta Capital.
The startup will utilise the freshly raised capital to deepen its presence across India by expanding its network of Aqua partners- franchise stores that enable access to quality input products to the fish and shrimp farmers. The funds will also be used to expand the scale of operations and enhance Aquaconnect’s post-harvest market linkage solutions. Improving market linkage will allow the farmers to reach out to a broader range of potential buyers, thus increasing value realisation.
Aquaconnect works with fish and shrimp farmers to improve farm productivity, financial access, and market linkage through intelligent technology solutions. The startup has been working to navigate the challenges in the aquaculture value chain through an integrated tech-driven approach and aims to become the largest aquaculture value chain aggregator.
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Underlining the fund raising, Rajamanohar Somasundaram, founder and CEO of Aquaconnect said, “At Aquaconnect, our aim is to make the aquaculture value chain more efficient and transparent while increasing value realisation through tech intervention. The fresh round of capital will help us achieve this goal by paving the way for expansion of our Aqua partners’ network in India and help the aquaculture farmers reach more buyers by strengthening our post-harvest market linkage solutions.”
Nilesh Kothari, Managing Partner, Trifecta Capital said, “Aquaconnect is a pioneer in the aquaculture sector and is digitising the entire value chain connecting farmers with input manufacturers and institutional buyers. In the process, they are facilitating aquaculture farmers to realise better prices for their produce and providing access to high-quality inputs at fair prices. India is among the top three seafood producing countries and yet the sector is largely unorganised. Trifecta Capital is proud to partner with Aquaconnect which with its wide aqua-farmers network, strong tech-stack and experienced team will be able to solve the multiple challenges that the Indian aquaculture sector faces today.”
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Aquaconnect has been recognised by ‘Forbes Asia 100 to watch’ and ‘World-Changing Ideas 2020’ by Fast Company. The startup is part of the Innovator cohort at Seafood Innovation Project and Hatch Accelerator, Norwegian Seafood Innovation Cluster. Aquaconnect is a platinum winner of the Agriculture insuretech award by the World Bank Group. The startup was selected for the fifth edition of Google for Startups Accelerator (GFS) India and was awarded the ‘Most Innovative AgTech Startup’ award by FICCI, recently.
Photo: Rajamanohar Somasundaram, Founder & CEO, Aquaconnect
