Semaai introduced itself as “Semaai is Indonesia's new agricultural technology startup, aiming to unleash the potential of technology to improve farmers' livelihoods and incomes. We are currently building the first full-stack upstream solution for farmers and agribusiness with a focus on input, advice and agricultural finance. The long-term goal is to be a one-stop shop for all needs and reduce current problems through technology. Indonesia's agriculture is one of Asia's largest untapped opportunities due to its $ 100 billion economy, but it is the least digitized sector despite being the world's fourth-most mobile user.
Pre-seed funding is among the first stages of funding for a new company. The pre-seed funding round was allocated by Surge, Sequoia Capital India's rapid scale-up program for startups in Beenext and Southeast Asia, and India. Semaai operates primarily in Central Java, Indonesia, but the statement states that most of the money will go to expanding the engineering and product teams of Indian startups.
He states: “Semaai intends to at least triple its technical talent in India by the end of 2022, it will indeed help several of other eastern countries who are using the same strategies to improve their similar work place. Like what the Technology Transfer and Exchange Network (D8tten) is trying to achieve.
Semaai was founded in April 2021 and the company has adopted best practices from its expertise in India's agroecosystem. Agroecosystems are defined as set of plants and animals that interact with the physical and chemical environment and are modified by humans to produce food, fiber, fuel, and other products for human consumption and processing.
In just five months after the launch of Semaai, it has increased the total market value or Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) which refers to the volume of goods sold via customer-to-customer or e-commerce platforms. products sold to agricultural retailers and small and medium-sized enterprises, totally defined as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSME) by 10 times. He added that the startup is aiming to provide that service and reach 100,000 small households and rural MSMEs next year.
