Indonesian agritech startup Limakilo reaps seed funding from East Ventures

With the amount undisclosed, the funding will be used to expand outside of Jakarta and partner with more farmers

Indonesian agritech startup Limakilo today announced that they have received an undisclosed seed funding round from East Ventures.

The startup plans to use the investment to fund its expansion to cities outside of Jakarta and to partner with more farmers. It also plans to seek agreements with farmers associations and train its members on how to use the Limakilo app.

“In line with East Ventures’ mission and focus to invest in agriculture technology and farming category, the Limakilo team had proven that [even] startups who came out of Hackathon competitions are able to become a sustainable and investible business,” said East Ventures Managing Partners Willson Cuaca.

Limakilo was founded by college friends Walesa Danto, Martin Luter, Lisa Ayu Wulandari, and Arif Setiawan who took part in various hackathon competitions to develop the Limakilo app.

The startup aims to cut off the food distribution chain by enabling farmers to connect directly to consumers via a mobile app and a desktop site.

“Our price was determined by the farmers themselves, combined with packaging and transportation fees. [As for the report that prices in Limakilo is always 15 per cent cheaper than in offline markets], we also decided that ourselves, and we educate farmers that it is better to sell in units (but in big amount), compared to selling to middlemen,” explained the Limakilo team in their official blog.

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The platform begins by selling products from shallot farmers in Brebes, Central Java, though it currently sells various kinds of vegetables and chili.

It currently partners with 15 farmers in Brebes, Bandung, and Yogyakarta.

In April, President Joko Widodo named four Indonesian startups that he believed will help propel Indonesia’s position as the ‘digital energy of Asia’ and Limakilo was included on the list.

Another startup that also aims to cut off the role of middlemen in agriculture sector is Sikumis.

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Image Credit: LoboStudio Hamburg on Unsplash

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