Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The founder of the aquaculture startup eFishery, Gibran Huzaifah, had a difficult life while studying in Bandung. However, his ideas and hard work earned him company shares worth IDR 1.59 trillion.

The story behind the founding of a startup which has now achieved unicorn status after announcing funding of IDR 3 trillion is very inspiring.

Gibran once struggled hard when he studied at ITB. This man who grew up in Pulogadung and went to school in Bekasi, lives alone in Bandung, without pocket money and no family.

In fact, he didn't have a place to sleep so he was forced to move from place to place to rest on campus or at the mosque.

One time, Gibran didn't eat for three days because he ran out of money. The reason is, Gibran's father, who worked as a construction foreman, only lost his job when he started studying at ITB.

The idea of ​​establishing eFishery came to Gibran's mind in a biology class on aquaculture which discussed catfish breeding. He then looked for capital to rent a catfish pond. Little by little the catfish business grew to 76 ponds.

In running the catfish business, Gibran experienced the challenge of thin profit margins due to expensive feed. Not to mention, the price of catfish is very low because it is controlled by middlemen.

From the catfish pond

This condition prompted Gibran to create a prototype automatic feeder for catfish ponds based on internet-of-things technology. This smart device can accurately detect problems in the pond, especially when the fish are over or under fed.

This IoT technology was the beginning of eFishery, which was founded in 2013. Gibran's persistence, among other things, attracted the attention of big-name investor Patrick Walujo, who is currently believed to be the CEO of GoTo.

Patrick said he first met the founder of e-Fishery, Gibran Huzaifah, who had just finished school at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). At that time, Gibran explained the idea of ​​making a tool with sensors to feed fish according to their movements.

The initial idea was so simple, Patrick even admitted he didn't believe the machine would be effective. But in the end, he said he was amazed by the idea and started providing funding to e-Fishery.

“But because I was so amazed by an idea like this and the extraordinary enthusiasm, I also provided a little funding. So I could follow the developments,” he explained.

“During its journey, the business developed very quickly. Most importantly, the impact was given to advertising farmers.”

e-Fishery has grown its business. Not only does it serve fish farmers who subscribe to its equipment, but it also provides working capital and buys the fish to sell to restaurants.

Patrick said the business offered by e-Fishery was originally from Indonesia. Because in other countries, similar businesses are not successful.

“The last month's turnover, multiplied by 12, is IDR 4 trillion. The business is profitable. Much more profitable than Gojek,” said Patrick, quoted from the Unpar Official YouTube channel.

eFishery's latest funding, namely eFishery's series D round, was announced via a press release on Friday, July 7 2023. Abu Dhabi investor 42XFund acted as the main financier with the involvement of a Malaysian pension fund company called Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), a Swiss asset management company called responsAbility (rA ), as well as venture capital from veteran Global 500 startup investors.

All the new shareholders join previous investors, namely Temasek, Softbank and Northstar, led by Patrick Walujo, who was just officially appointed as GoTo's new CEO.

Gibran's hard work produced fantastic results. According to Gibran, after the last round of funding, the shares held by him and one other founder are now worth US$ 100 million (around Rp. 1.59 trillion).

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(haa/haa)