TaniGroup announces Series A funding worth of $10 million, equivalent to 143 billion Rupiah. It was to support business expansion and gather agriculture startups to collaborate in developing the sector.
The first round was led by Openspace Ventures. Participated also, Intudo Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures and The DFS Lab, a fintech accelerator supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Using the latest funding, TaniGroup aims to encourage business to grow rapid in 2019, also, more benefits for farmers and buyers. TaniGroup believes in collaboration with many stakeholders to solve the current problems in the agriculture sector.
TaniGroup is to partner with the central government, provincial, local and global organizations, including other agricultural startups to build the bigger platform.
“Soon, we’re to gather many agricultural startups to collaborate, considering the plenty of opportunity in the industry, and also very traditional. There are lots of issues to solve, many of the farmers need supports, and opportunity to build tighter supply chain in order to produce better crops with the best price for Indonesian people,” TaniGroup’s CEO, Ivan Arie Sustiawan, said.
Was founded in 2016, TaniHub has partnered up with more than 25,000 local farmers in all around Indonesia and operating five branch office and central of regional distribution in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya.
TaniGroup is currently has two services. First, TaniHub, a platform that allows users to get fresh crop directly from the farmers. The service is using B2B and B2C approach. Currently, Tanihub has been connecting farmers with 400 SMEs and over 10,000 individuals.
Next, there is TaniFund, to help farmers getting loan for agriculture cultivation. Using the integration with TaniHub platform, either borrowers or lenders will have clear status and agreement. TaniFund is already registered and work under Financial Service Authority (OJK), also part of Indonesian Joint Funding Fintech Association (AFPI).
“Our mission is agriculture for everyone. Although the agriculture sector is only the second biggest of Indonesia’s gross domestic products, some people aren’t into the sector due to negative perception. Farmers isn’t more attractive than other jobs, and most consumers aren’t directly relate to their food chain,” TaniGroup’s Co-Founder & President, Pamitra Wineka said.
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Original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian
