Paolo Limcaoco

East Asia and Pacific

Indonesia

Consumer Protection

Credit

Delivery Channels

Enabling Environment

Financial Service Providers

Fintechs

Trends

Underserved Groups

Access Usage Gap

Agricultural and Rural Finance

Impact Investing

Rural Populations

Smallholder Farmers

Customer Centricity

Digital Financial Services

Human Touch

MSME/SME Finance

Responsible Digital Finance

Podcast

Video

Article

Press Release

Semaai

As climate change-related events increase in frequency, unpredictability, and severity, low-income and vulnerable populations are the most affected. In our fifth season, we’ll explore climate fintech, a new and exciting area of fintech that aims to address climate change.

We will speak to startup founders, investors, and other ecosystem players to understand how we can help individuals and small businesses manage the climate risks they face and work together to build a more sustainable future. Listen in every Thursday as we bring more awareness to the intersection of climate and fintech and its enormous potential to create a more sustainable future.

To learn more about Accion Venture Lab, visit our <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website</a> and follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/accionvlab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/accion-venture-lab/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn</a>.

<a href="https://link.chtbl.com/47YH3tWS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Listen here</a>.

<img class="wp-image-27915 size-large aligncenter" src="https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/s5-speakers-headshots-1024x576.jpg" alt="Fintech for the People podcast S5 " width="1024" height="576" />

Exploring climate fintech: Introducing Season Five of Fintech for the People

[embed]https://youtu.be/vjWQAwUqtOI[/embed]

“I am so excited about the trend, the fact that people in the rural areas are rapidly moving on towards mobile economy, mobile platforms,” said Yoga Anindito, Co-Founder of Semaai, a full stack agritech solution for Indonesian farmers that Accion Venture Lab invested in February 2023.

Read <a href="https://www.accion.org/empowering-indonesian-agribusinesses-through-digitization" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">why we invested in Semaai</a>.

Inclusive Fintech Leader Stories: Interview with Yoga Anindito, Co-Founder of Semaai

This week, we <a href="https://www.accion.org/indonesian-agtech-startup-semaai-closes-a-bridge-funding-round-bringing-total-raised-to-us2-9-million" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced our investment in </a><a href="https://www.accion.org/indonesian-agtech-startup-semaai-closes-a-bridge-funding-round-bringing-total-raised-to-us2-9-million">Semaai</a>, a company with big plans to digitize Indonesia’s $100 billion agriculture industry. We are excited to work with the talented founding group of Abhishek Gupta, Yoga Anindito, and Gaurav Batra — and the rest of the Semaai team — to support the stakeholders in this vital sector. Semaai is Accion Venture Lab’s fourth investment in Indonesia and our sixth in Southeast Asia. Our first agritech investment in the region, the company offers a full suite of solutions to support the agriculture ecosystem.
<h3>Addressing pain points of small-scale agricultural retailers</h3>
Semaai works with small mom and pop shops that sell agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, and other products to farmers. These retailers, locally known as<em> toko tanis</em>, traditionally build their inventory by bartering with numerous distributors over WhatsApp or SMS. Because of this analog and traditional sourcing process, small-scale toko tanis struggle to access fairly priced stock, direct deliveries, and product information.

That’s where Semaai comes in. The company provides toko tanis with a digital marketplace, allowing them to buy inventory from their phones without leaving their store, saving them costly downtime. These small retailers can source the products they need through an easy-to-use application with direct delivery. Semaai not only makes purchasing and receiving products simpler but also provides key data points on each product it carries, giving the toko tanis better visibility on what they purchased.

And the procurement platform is just the beginning. The company aims to solve another challenge for these small retailers — the lack of access to financing. As toko tanis build their transaction history, they will soon be able to purchase inventory on credit, freeing them from cash constraints and giving them the opportunity to grow their business.
<h3>Aiming to reach another key stakeholder — the farmer</h3>
These small retailers are just the initial customer for Semaai. As a next step, the company wants to support smallholder farmers. For this, the toko tanis move from being a customer to becoming a critical partner for Semaai. The retailers, who have deep relationships and are trusted by the farmers, will be Semaai’s ambassadors on the field. Through these retailers, Semaai will help farmers sell their produce directly to buyers. With the toko tanis serving as an extension of the company, Semaai will efficiently provide offtaking services to the farmers, giving them clear and reliable access to market at fair prices.
<h3>Closing gaps and finding opportunities in a fertile and vital industry</h3>
[caption id="attachment_27769" align="alignright" width="237"]<img class=" wp-image-27769" src="https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screen-Shot-2023-03-02-at-20.31.07-e1677809329181.png" alt="Semaai app screenshot" width="237" height="303" /> <em>Semaai app screenshot</em>[/caption]

Indonesia’s agriculture industry is massive and vital to the country’s economy and food supply. The sector includes almost <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-26/millennial-jobs-indonesia-s-plan-to-create-new-farmers-shows-promising-numbers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">40 million farmers</a> and many small businesses, accounting for about 30 percent of employment. It also significantly contributes to the country’s GDP (<a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/38714170/39972509/Investing+in+rural+people+in+Indonesia.pdf/70e8e737-5a47-4826-89db-de5c60da6c02" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">13.5 percent</a><a href="https://www.ifad.org/documents/38714170/39972509/Investing+in+rural+people+in+Indonesia.pdf/70e8e737-5a47-4826-89db-de5c60da6c02">)</a>. However, the agriculture industry and its stakeholders remain highly marginalized and underinvested. The farmers and all the small businesses that work with them are crucial for all of us to continue living our lives, yet we have not supported them enough. Given this, there is a need (and significant opportunity) in this industry, and Semaai wants to play a crucial role in empowering the farmers and retailers and improving their livelihoods.
<h3><span lang="EN">Having a solid founding team with great complementary skills</span></h3>
[caption id="attachment_27762" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="size-large wp-image-27762" src="https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screen-Shot-2023-03-02-at-20.29.22-1024x680.png" alt="Semaai co-founders: Yoga Anandito, Gaurav Batra, Abhishek Gupta" width="1024" height="680" /> <em>Semaai co-founders: Yoga Anandito, Gaurav Batra, Abhishek Gupta</em>[/caption]

Each member of Semaai’s founding team brings a different but complementary set of experience and knowledge. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhishekg-a/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Abhishek</a> sees things from 10,000 feet, with an eye on the numbers and KPIs. He understands what has worked (or not worked) in various national and local programs focused on rural area development. He has a development finance background after a career with the World Bank in the US, Indonesia, and India. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoga-anindito-4bba7161/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yoga</a> is the operator and key person on the ground, with extensive experience working on the ground and seeing firsthand the pain points people face in the space. He previously ran a fertilizer distribution startup making him perfectly placed to figure out what solutions are essential and needed. Lastly, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaurav-batra-b4665240/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gaurav</a> is the tech and product head who previously led multiple tech teams for local and global startups in India and Indonesia. Gaurav has long been looking to build something of his own that is meaningful and now leads tech at Semaai.
<h3>Seizing the right moment to support the agriculture ecosystem</h3>
[caption id="attachment_27763" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="wp-image-27763 size-large" src="https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Screen-Shot-2023-03-02-at-20.29.42-1024x575.png" alt="Semaai team at a drone demo" width="1024" height="575" /> <em>Semaai team at a drone demo</em>[/caption]

<a href="https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">At Accion Venture Lab</a>, we invest and support startups providing digital solutions and financial services to underserved people and communities. Agriculture is a key focus theme given how the sector remains underinvested and the key players highly marginalized.

While Semaai is our first foray into backing an agritech startups in Southeast Asia, it joins many other fast-growing agritech companies in our portfolio, including <a href="https://www.pula-advisors.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pula</a> and <a href="https://www.accion.org/learning-new-skills-helped-this-longtime-farmer-thrive" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apollo</a> in Africa, <a href="https://www.accion.org/agri-inputs-b2b-marketplace-agrim-emerges-from-stealth-mode-with-2m-in-seed-funding-from-omnivore-india-quotient-and-accion-venture-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AgriM</a> and <a href="https://www.accion.org/farm-automation-tech-opens-financial-access-for-aquaculture-farmers-in-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AquaExchange</a> in South Asia, and <a href="https://www.accion.org/how-one-company-uses-tech-to-support-brazilian-farmers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Terra</a><a href="https://www.accion.org/how-one-company-uses-tech-to-support-brazilian-farmers">Magna</a> in Latin America.

We have seen how Indonesia’s agriculture industry has recently started becoming more tech-enabled, with a wave of agritech startups emerging. In addition, we can see that stakeholders are increasingly going digital and younger generations are beginning to join the family business. Combining these factors with the massive market that the sector represents, we can see significant opportunities for companies like Semaai to create sustainable impact and return.

With this latest round of funding, Semaai will continue to work with toko tanis and deepen their relationship further by addressing other pain points in addition to sourcing inputs. Semaai is in the early stages of piloting a financial product for their key customers, allowing them to buy inventory on credit. The company will continue innovating and partnering with toko tanis to serve smallholder farmers.

We believe Semaai is tackling massive problems in the agriculture industry, and doing so in a carefully phased, innovative, and sustainable way. We are excited to be with the company in this early stage and see the impact they can bring to industry stakeholders, especially the toko tanis and smallholder farmers. We are proud to support their journey.

Empowering Indonesian agribusinesses through digitization

<strong>Singapore, 27 February 2023</strong> – Semaai, an AgTech startup based in Indonesia, today announced it has closed a bridge funding round led by Accion Venture Lab and XA Network, with participation from existing investors Surge, the rapid scale-up program by Sequoia India &amp; Southeast Asia, and Beenext. The new round brings Semaai’s funding raised to date to US$2.9 million, and will support the company to expand product offerings for underserved farmers and agri-retailers to help them maximise their earning potential and revitalise rural agricultural communities in Indonesia.

Semaai provides an integrated digital ecosystem that addresses supply chain disruptions and fills knowledge gaps for Indonesia’s agri MSMEs such as rural agri-input retailers, known locally as <em>toko tanis</em>, and the smallholder farmers they serve. Due to fragmented and complex agricultural supply chains, both <em>toko tanis</em> and farmers must deal with opaque pricing, lack of access to affordable farming inputs, and a widening mismatch in the supply and demand of agricultural produce.

Semaai’s solution encompasses three key services that address systemic issues within the country's <a href="https://www.bps.go.id/indicator/11/65/1/-2010-version-gdp-at-2010-version.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">$100 billion</a> agriculture industry. It provides <em>toko tanis</em> and farmers with a B2B digital marketplace for agricultural inputs such as seed and fertilisers, access to better agricultural produce markets, and agronomy advisory services to improve their farming practices. The new funds will be used to support Semaai’s product expansion, which includes building digital advisory services for agri-retailers and farmers, as well as a new app to enable farmers to access agricultural inputs that are affordable and located nearby.

<em>“Agri-MSMEs play an important role as aggregators and are often much more tech-savvy than farmers, but they lack an all-in-one solution for agronomy, product knowledge and price transparency. We believe that empowering them will help these businesses better serve farmers. We are thrilled to have Accion Venture Lab, XA networks, and our existing investors as they share our vision and belief in delivering impact,”</em> said <strong>Muhammad Yoga Anindito, co-founder and CEO of Semaai</strong>.

<em>“Farmers play an important role in Indonesia’s $100 billion agriculture sector and we see a huge opportunity to provide the digital tools and credit needed to scale their businesses and improve their livelihoods. We’re excited to partner with Semaai as their full stack online marketplace accelerates the digital transformation of Indonesia’s small agri-retailers and the farmers they serve,”</em> said <strong>Rahil Rangwala, co-Managing Partner of Accion Venture Lab</strong>.

Since its launch in August 2021, Semaai has built a strong network of <em>toko tanis</em> and smallholder farmers in more than 2,980 villages in Central Java, with the number of active agri-retailer and MSME users on Semaai’s digital marketplace currently serving 2.6 million farmers in the region. In 2022, monthly transactions on Semaai’s marketplace grew by 37 times, and monthly revenues for Semaai increased by 20 times. Semaai also purchases produce from its network of farmers and distributes it to large e-commerce companies in Indonesia. Profits from these sales are channelled back into the business, ensuring a sustainable cycle of growth.

<hr />

<h3>About Semaai</h3>
Semaai is a ‘farmer-first’ company building full-stack agri-tech solutions to help farmers and rural MSMEs such as <em>toko tanis</em> in Indonesia to maximise their earning potential and gain access to better financing, services and new markets. Through a growing network of rural partner MSMEs, Semaai provides a full suite of agricultural services, such as customised consultancy, productivity tools, farming inputs such as seed and fertiliser products and access to better markets.

For further information, please visit us at <a href="https://www.semaai.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.semaai.com/</a> or follow us on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/semaai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/semaai.ID/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/semaai.id/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/semaai_id" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twitter</a>.
<h3>About Accion Venture Lab</h3>
Accion Venture Lab is a leading early-stage impact investor in inclusive fintech startups, focused on affordable, well-designed financial services that enable economic growth and prosperity for underserved populations in the world. It has invested in more than 60 early-stage startups operating in more than 35 countries, focusing on the most innovative models and technologies delivering quality financial services to underserved households and small businesses with the potential to scale.

Accion Venture Lab is a part of Accion, a global non-profit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a trailblazing legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. Since 1961, Accion has increased access to inclusive financial services for tens of millions of people through its work with more than 200 partners in 63 countries. For more information, visit <a href="http://accion.org/venturelab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accion.org/venturelab</a>.
<h3>About Surge</h3>
Surge is Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia’s rapid-scale up program. Surge combines up to USD 3 Mn of seed capital with company-building workshops, a global curriculum and support from a community of exceptional mentors and founders. The program’s goal is to supercharge early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia and give founders an unfair advantage, right out of the gate.

For more information on Surge, visit <a href="http://www.surgeahead.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.surgeahead.com</a>.
<h3>About Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia</h3>
Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO to beyond.

Sequoia Capital India and Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, CRED, Druva, Five Star Finance, Freshworks, GoTo, Groww, Kopi Kenangan, Mamaearth, Pine Labs, Polygon, Razorpay, Truecaller, Zomato and more.

We spur founders to push the boundaries of what's possible. In partnering with Sequoia, startups benefit with over 50 years of tribal knowledge and lessons learned working with companies like Airbnb, Alibaba, Apple, Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn and Stripe early on.

From the beginning universities, endowments, and other non profits have been the backbone of our investor base which means founders' accomplishments make a meaningful difference. For more information on Sequoia's work in India and Southeast Asia visit <a href="http://sequoiacap.com/India" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sequoiacap.com/India</a> and <a href="http://sequoiacap.com/sea" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sequoiacap.com/sea</a>.
<h3>Media inquiries</h3>
For further information, please contact <a href="mailto:surge@aka-asia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">surge@aka-asia.com</a>.

Indonesian AgTech Startup Semaai Closes a Bridge Funding round, Bringing Total raised to US$2.9 million