Aquaculture Startup AquaExchange Secures USD 6 Million in Series A Funding Round 

Ocean 14 Capital, Endiya Partners, Accion and other existing investors are a part of the round

AquaExchange, an aquaculture technology and fintech startup, serving India’s multi-billion-dollar shrimp and fish ecosystem, has raised USD 6 Mn in Series A funding led by Ocean 14 Capital with participation from existing investors including Endiya Partners and Accion Venture Lab.

Headquartered in Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), AquaExchange is helping transform aquaculture through technology. The company leverages its cutting-edge tech to increase crop yields, mitigate crop risks and combat rising input costs. Their devices enable farm automation and improve crop visibility for lenders and customers leading to premium prices and reduced costs for farmers.

AquaExchange’s product portfolio includes novel power management (PowerMon) and feed automation (AquaBot) devices. Notably, the PowerMon stands out as a first in enabling comprehensive power monitoring and aeration control through a smartphone app. Similarly, the AquaBot is the only commercially deployed mobile auto-feeder enabling significant farm automation.

The funding received by AquaExchange will be used to scale adoption of the company’s full-stack business model including farm automation, crop financing and harvest procurement. The company also plans to focus their efforts on a few international markets for device exports.

Pavan Kosaraju, Founder of Aqua Exchange, emphasized, “AquaExchange is committed to transforming aquaculture through technology. This round of funding strengthens our position as leaders in the aquaculture technology and fintech sectors.

He further added, “We plan to refine and scale our unique reinforcement framework, wherein farmers are immediately incentivized for sustainable practices through reduced input costs and higher offtake prices, emphasizing our commitment to sustainable practices in the industry.

With this funding round, we aim to equip many more aquaculture farmers with the right technology to reduce costs and increase productivity while enabling global protein sustainability.”

Piers Lakin, Senior Associate of Ocean 14 Capital, commented, “We are really impressed and excited by the speed of growth of AquaExchange. In a short period of time the Company managed to deploy technology across a significant part of the Indian aquaculture landscape, both helping to deliver the data, insights and control that can help stabilize customers production while also developing an end-to-end solution providing access to inputs, offtake and finance.”

Dr Ramesh Byrapaneni, Managing Director of Endiya Partners, commented, “AquaExchange is a compelling investment choice in the evolving aquaculture landscape. The company’s advanced technologies enable increased farm profitability while providing relevant data for market intelligence and building robust credit models.

Their devices have been deployed across thousands of acres in India and have also seen traction in international markets. We’re thrilled to back AquaExchange’s progress, and the team which is driven by the passion to enable competitive, profitable and sustainable aquaculture.”

Rahil Rangwala, Managing Partner of Accion Venture Lab, commented, “We continue to support AquaExchange’s growth as the company works with aquaculture farmers to automate farm operations and digitize their supply chain. AquaExchange’s exponential growth, impressive retention rates, and ability to provide credit and other responsible financial solutions to farmers clearly show embedded finance solutions are an effective way to help farmers profitably grow their businesses in India and beyond.”

About Endiya Partners:

Endiya Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm with a proven track record of investing in scalable product startups. With a deep understanding of their domain, vast experience in entrepreneurship and operations, the Endiya team plays a major role in developing scalable businesses.

The firm’s notable portfolio consists of multiple category-creating companies, including such as Darwinbox, Cult.fit, Kissht, SigTuple, Zluri, Qapita, Eyestem, Sugar.fit, Mylo, Scrut Automation, Steradian Semiconductors, Karkinos, Grip Invest, Myelin Foundry and BluJ Aerospace.

In addition to financial support, Endiya also provides strategic and operational assistance to its portfolio companies including product and market validation, positioning and roadmap, key hires, business and market analysis, customer and partner acquisition, follow-on funding, and governance.

Collectively, the team has a comprehensive understanding of the sectors the fund invests in across SaaS, information security, semiconductors, healthcare & life sciences, and financial services.

Founded in 2016, Endiya Partners has $100M under management.