AquaExchange, an aquaculture technology and fintech start-up serving India’s multi-billion-dollar shrimp and fish ecosystem, has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Ocean 14 Capital with participation from existing investors, including Endiya Partners and Accion Venture Labs.
The Vijayawada-headquartered company leverages its technology to increase crop yields, mitigate crop risks and combat rising input costs. Their devices enable farm automation and improve crop visibility for lenders and customers, leading to premium prices and reduced costs for farmers.
AquaExchange’s product portfolio includes novel power management (PowerMon) and feed automation (AquaBot) devices. PowerMon enables comprehensive power monitoring and aeration control through a smartphone app, while AquaBot is a commercially deployed mobile auto-feeder enabling significant farm automation.
The funding received by AquaExchange will be used to scale the adoption of the company’s full-stack business model, including farm automation, crop financing, and harvest procurement. The company also plans to focus its efforts on a few international markets for device exports.
Pavan Kosaraju, Founder of Aqua Exchange, said, "We plan to refine and scale our unique reinforcement framework, wherein farmers are immediately incentivized for sustainable practices through reduced input costs and higher offtake prices, emphasizing our commitment to sustainable practices in the industry. With this funding round, we aim to equip many more aquaculture farmers with the right technology to reduce costs and increase productivity while enabling global protein sustainability.”
Piers Lakin, Senior Associate of Ocean 14 Capital, commented, “We are really impressed and excited by the speed of growth of AquaExchange. In a short period of time the company managed to deploy technology across a significant part of the Indian aquaculture landscape, both helping to deliver the data, insights and control that can help stabilize customers production while also developing an end-to-end solution providing access to inputs, offtake and finance.”
Founded in 2016, Endiya Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm with $100 million under management. Its portfolio consists of multiple start-ups such as Darwinbox, Cult.fit, Kissht, SigTuple, Zluri, Qapita, Eyestem, Sugar.fit, Mylo, Scrut Automation, Steradian Semiconductors, Karkinos, Grip Invest, Myelin Foundry and BluJ Aerospace.
In addition to financial support, it also provides strategic and operational assistance to its portfolio companies, including product and market validation, positioning and roadmap, key hires, business and market analysis, customer and partner acquisition, follow-on funding, and governance.
Dr Ramesh Byrapaneni, Managing Director of Endiya Partners, commented, "AquaExchange’s advanced technologies enable increased farm profitability while providing relevant data for market intelligence and building robust credit models. Their devices have been deployed across thousands of acres in India and have also seen traction in international markets. We're thrilled to back AquaExchange's progress and the team, which is driven by the passion for enabling competitive, profitable, and sustainable aquaculture."
Rahil Rangwala, Managing Partner of Accion Venture Lab, commented, “We continue to support AquaExchange’s growth as the company works with aquaculture farmers to automate farm operations and digitize their supply chain. AquaExchange’s exponential growth, impressive retention rates, and ability to provide credit and other responsible financial solutions to farmers clearly show embedded finance solutions are an effective way to help farmers profitably grow their businesses in India and beyond.”