Don’t let this fool you, Indonesia is made up of 17k+ islands! (Source: Getty Images / Encyclopedia Britannica)
It turns out Stardew Valley isn’t the only farming app people love.
TaniHub Group, an Indonesian startup that connects farmers to customers, just announced $65.5m in Series B funding, per TechCrunch.
Founded in 2016, the agtech startup currently hosts 45k+ farmers and 350k buyers, including restaurants and stores.
The business model is straightforward…
… and consists of 3 parts:
- TaniHub, its ecommerce platform, where farmers and customers meet
- TaniSupply, which fulfills orders across 6 warehouses
- TaniFund, which provides loans to farmers that they repay via TaniHub sales
Increased demand for online groceries during the pandemic led to a 6x YoY sales increase in 2020.
What’s next for TaniHub?
CEO Eka Pamitra says it will use the new funding to beef up its supply chain and improve its supply-demand forecast model to help farmers plan ahead.
It will also expand across Indonesia — the world’s 4th-most-populated country (275m+ people) — where a fragmented market and too many middlemen hurts farmers and consumers alike.
Farm-to-consumer is ripe right now:
- Secai Marche, a Japanese platform that connects farmers to chefs, restaurants, and consumers, raised $1.5m.
- Harvie.Farm lets people purchase customized community-supported agriculture (CSA) boxes online.
- Barn2Door CEO Janelle Maiocco told The Wall Street Journal that ~50% of the farms on its platform sold out of stock in 2020 as home cooking and online shopping boomed.
At this rate, investors may be harvesting some gains soon (sorry).
