Indonesia-based Elevarm’s integrated farming productivity platform has secured $2.6 million in a seed funding round led by Singapore’s Insignia Ventures Partners, with participation from multi-stage venture capital firm 500 Global, and Gibran Huzaifah, CEO and founder of Indonesia’s aquaculture technology startup, eFishery.

The strategic raise was completed in two phases and will go towards scaling Elevarm’s seedlings and organic fertiliser production capacity threefold to meet growing demand from smallholder farmers, as well as advancing NextBio, Elevarm’s research and development (R&D) engine dedicated to organic agricultural product innovations, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Access to quality seedlings and fertiliser remains exclusive to large enterprise farms, often leaving smallholder farmers with poorer quality seeds and soil, and consequently, lower quality yields. Elevarm said it disrupts this paradigm by democratising access to farming essentials, ultimately improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

Founded in 2022, Elevarm offers a platform of interconnected horticultural services and products, empowering farmers with affordable quality inputs for higher farming productivity, broader market reach, and safe and accessible financing. Elevarm was co-founded by Bayu Syerli Rachmat, Febi Agil Ifdillah, and Lintang Kusuma Pratiwi.

With a growing base of over 13,000 agricultural partners and more than 5,000 active farmers as customers, Elevarm has witnessed strong year-on-year growth with 2023 revenue up 7 times from the previous year.

“We see incredible value in uplifting our local smallholder farmers, the backbone that makes up half of Indonesia’s entire farming industry. Our mission is to democratise access to farming essentials that not only boost crop yields for them, but contribute to the circular economy in the long run, through our proprietary research, technology, and solutions, ” says Bayu Syerli Rachmat, Co-founder and CEO of Elevarm.

The new funding will enable Elevarm to scale its greenhouse space to more than triple its current size. This allows them to increase production capacity for high-quality seedlings, making it more affordable for smallholder farmers.

Following the commercial success of Elevarm’s proprietary organic fertiliser, Vermicomplus, the company will also make significant investments in NextBio — its in-house R&D engine for developing new products for improving biodiversity, soil health, and ecosystem resilience.

The fresh capital will additionally be channelled towards a new factory equipped with advanced manufacturing technology to expand its capacity for fertiliser production and more, the company said.

Elevarm will also collaborate with new research institutions and strategic partners to engineer affordable, deeptech horticulture solutions tailored to unique local challenges at different stages of the farming journey.

Besides servicing over 400 hectares of farmland through its current farming partners, Elevarm’s business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for farmers and wholesalers facilitates crop sales of up to 1,000 tonnes monthly.

Elevarm’s 70-strong team aims to introduce 15 new organic products this year, including biostimulants, fertilisers, solutions for plant and bio pesticides. The team believes that agritech solutions are vital to the sustainable growth of farming and agriculture industries, and hopes to serve smallholder farmers across the region, starting with Indonesia.

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