[Funding alert] Aquaculture startup Aquaconnect raises $4M in pre-Series A round

Chennai-based aqua farmers’ network Aquaconnect on Tuesday announced it raised $4 million (Rs 29.7 crore) in a pre-Series A round led by Rebright Partners and Flourish Ventures. AgFunder and 6G Capital also participated in this round, along with existing investors Omnivore and HATCH. 

Speaking on the investment, Rajamanohar “Raj” Somasundaram, Founder and CEO of Aquaconnect, said, 

“The recent investment is a strong validation of our goal to become India’s largest aquaculture value chain aggregator, and will help us scale up in both size and scope. We will deploy the fresh capital to scale our farm advisory, financial services, and marketplace for seafood exports.”

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Aquaconnect’s full-stack platform provides a 360-degree solution for aquaculture farmers. It claims to help fish and shrimp farmers maximise their income by connecting them with smart farm management tools, financial services, and customers.

Aquaconnect’s mobile app features predictive SaaS tools for pond management, which improves productivity and help farmers avoid disease risks. This farm data intelligence is leveraged by Aquaconnect’s omnichannel marketplace, allowing farmers to transact directly with farm input manufacturers, banks, insurance companies, and certification bodies. 

Finally, Aquaconnect’s post-harvest market linkage solution helps shrimp and fish farmers sell their traceable and certified produce to buyers across the globe.

Aquaconnect works with over 30,000 aquaculture farmers across Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu.

The startup will use the funding to strengthen its GIS-enabled fintech product development and accelerate the volume of exports flowing through the platform. It intends to launch its Series A round in six to nine months. 

Brij Singh, General Partner of Rebright Partners, said, 

“We are backing Aquaconnect to help enable digital transformation in India’s aquaculture industry by supporting all stakeholders to increase exports of high-quality seafood with traceability to key markets like Japan.”

Aquaconnect was founded in 2017 by IIT Kanpur alumnus Raj, who had earlier founded Hexolabs, a mobile VAS company, that operated across 15 countries in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. 

Anuradha Ramachandaran, Investment Director of Flourish, said,

"Aquaconnect is a compelling example of how financial services that are integrated with popular platforms can empower small businesses and enhance their owners' livelihoods, reflecting the importance of embedded finance as an investment thesis for Flourish."