Agritech Startup Eratani Gets Fresh Funds Of IDR 23 Billion

JAKARTA - Eratani, a start-up company in the agricultural sector, officially received initial funding of IDR 23 billion.

This investor support for Eratani proves the strong belief that Eratani can bring new breakthroughs to the industry and encourage the growth of the agricultural sector.

Eratani CEO and Founder Andrew Soeherman said the funds were received from 29 investors led by Trihill Capital, followed by Kenangan Fund and Kopital Network.

Also involved in this investment are a number of investors such as Edward Tirtanata as Co-Founder and CEO of Kopi Kenangan, James Prananto, and Cynthia Chaerunnisa as Co-Founder and CMO of Kopi Kenangan, Benedicto Haryono as Co-Founder and CEO of Koinworks, John Marco Rasjid as Co-Founder Founder and CEO of Sociolla, Vidit Agrawal as Founder and CEO of Gaji Gesa, and several other prominent angel investors.

"The fresh funds are planned to be fully used to build ecosystems and supply chains, strengthen expansion and penetration throughout the islands of Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan, and develop Super App Eratani, a high-tech platform, specifically for Indonesian farmers," said Andrew in an official statement, Saturday, June 4.

Furthermore, Andrew added, the Eratani Super App was created with the hope of being able to answer the needs of farmers through agricultural digitization, providing easy access to capital, education on land management, agricultural production facilities, and crop yield management.

This plan continues to strengthen Eratani's mission to improve the welfare of farmers in Indonesia.

"One of the reasons that attracts investors to Eratani as an agritech start-up is its different business model, where Eratani focuses on the entire agricultural process from upstream to downstream," continued Andrew.

This, he said, provides a different competitive value in the eyes of investors because in the future Eratani will be able to make many new breakthroughs in the agricultural industry, especially when compared to startups or other applications that only focus on downstream processes.

"With the trust of investors, we want to expand in Java, recruit potential talent, and develop the technology we have and make it a modern, adaptable, and user-friendly application for farmers throughout Indonesia," he explained.

The agricultural sector is still the main pillar in increasing the prosperity and welfare of the Indonesian people, especially the farmers themselves.

BPS data for 2020 shows that 46.30 percent of the main source of income data, namely the number of households classified as poor in Indonesia, most of which came from the agricultural sector.

Eratani currently has more than 5,000 fostered farmers spread across West Java, Central Java, East Java, and the Special Region of Yogyakarta.

Every fostered farmer who is a member of the Eratani program can enjoy various services ranging from easy access to financing, and the need for agricultural production facilities, to harvest management.