Indonesian ag marketplace TaniHub banks $17m in Series A+ funding

Jakarta-based agribusiness marketplace TaniHub Group has raised $17 million in ‘Series A-plus’ funding, following up on its $10 million Series A round in May last year.

The latest round was co-led by Indonesia’s Intudo Ventures and Singapore-based Openspace Ventures, both of which participated in the earlier Series A raise. Other investors joining the A-plus round included UOB Venture Management – the VC arm of Singaporean bank UOB – Temasek’s Vertex Ventures, BRI Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, and Tenaya Capital.

The startup has secured $29 million in total equity funding since launching in mid-2016. It operates two complementary services for Indonesian farmers: ag marketplace TaniHub, and peer-to-peer financing platform TaniFund. It claims that over 30,000 smallholders have signed up to its ecosystem in the past year alone.

TaniHub connects farmers directly to buyers, enabling them to sell fresh produce and providing them with order management and logistics support. Customers include over 5,000 business clients – including hotels, restaurants, caterers, and food manufacturers – and more than 115,000 retailers.

TaniFund offers cultivation and trade loans to farmers who lack access to traditional financial service providers. It raises funds via peer-to-peer lending, and claims to have disbursed loans worth $6 million in total.

The startup claims that farmers that join TaniHub have seen their incomes increase by at least 20%. For those that also use TaniFund to finance their business, the increase is 50%.

Operating out of five distribution hubs on the islands of Java and Bali, TaniHub Group said it will use the new funding to expand its geographic coverage and service offerings. Three new hubs are planned, while the company also wants to introduce more automation into its packaging and processing operations to “provide a smoother end-to-end supply chain process.”

Ivan Arie Sustiawan, the startup’s co-founder and CEO, said that its target is to have a presence across all of Indonesia’s cities by 2022, adding that he “expect[s] more robust growth for this year.”

According to AgFunder’s Agri-FoodTech Investing Report 2019, agribusiness marketplaces secured $786 million in investment worldwide last year. Find out more here.

Co-founder and president Pamitra Wineka, said that “the revitalization of farmers is crucial to Indonesia’s agriculture sector, which represents one of the most significant contributors to the country’s economy.”

“Farmers need to improve their productivity and income as those are important factors to ensure young generations that the agriculture sector offers bright prospects,” he continued. “Our ecosystem of TaniHub Group is designed to help farmers achieve those dreams, and [so] consumers can enjoy agriculture products at fair prices.”