Editor’s note: eFishery said on Monday (Dec. 16) that it is now operating under the leadership of Adhy Wibisono as an interim CEO, and Albertus Sasmitra, as an interim CFO, confirming this report published on Sunday (Dec. 15). This story has been updated to include the company’s official statement in para 16 below.
Indonesian unicorn eFishery’s board has suspended its co-founders Gibran Huzaifah and Chrisna Aditya following an investigation into alleged financial irregularities at the company, DealStreetAsia has learnt.
An official communication by the company to its shareholders on Friday said Huzaifah, who is the CEO, is being investigated for “financial misreporting of performance and revenue”, according to two investors.
Chrisna Aditya, eFishery’s chief product officer (CPO), will also step down, sources aware of the development told DealStreetAsia.
Huzaifah and Aditya are among the company’s top shareholders with a roughly 9% stake each, according to DealStreetAsia DATA VANTAGE (see table below).
eFishery’s chief financial officer (CFO), Dhianendra Laksmana, had resigned from the company in April 2024, citing personal reasons.
The company plans to officially communicate the leadership transition to employees on Monday (Dec. 16), sources aware of the development said.
So far, there are no indications that eFishery’s operations are impacted despite the change in the top management.
eFishery declined to comment on the developments when contacted by DealStreetAsia. Argor Capital Management (formerly Go-Ventures), an investor in the firm, also declined to comment. DealStreetAsia has also reached out to other investors.
Board picks new leaders
eFishery’s board has also decided on a successor for Huzaifah and Laksmana, sources told DealStreetAsia under the condition of anonymity.
Adhy Wibisono, who is currently group CFO of the Indonesian real estate platform NWP Property, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, has been picked by the board as the company’s new CEO.
Meanwhile, Albertus Indra Sasmitra, a director at Northstar Group, will take over as the new CFO of the startup.
Both appointments have been approved by the company’s investors.
Wibisono has been serving at NWP Property for over three years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also had stints at fintech firm GoPay (now GoTo Financial) and healthcare firm Combiphar as a CFO.
Sasmitra has been with Northstar since July 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also had stints at GoTo Group and Trimegah Sekuritas Indonesia.
In an official statement to the media on Monday, eFishery said:
“eFishery is now operating under the leadership of Adhy Wibisono as an interim CEO, and Albertus Sasmitra, as an interim CFO. This decision, reached in unison with our shareholders, showcases our commitment to improving the company’s governance. We are fully aware of the gravity of the market speculation regarding the decision and we take this matter with the utmost seriousness. We remain dedicated to upholding the highest standards of corporate governance and ethics in all of eFishery’s operations.”
Internal restructuring
eFishery has been undergoing an internal restructuring. In July, it laid off an undisclosed number of employees, citing “structural adjustments”.
In Sep 2024, Huzaifah acknowledged that the company was dealing with instances of internal fraud. The aquatech startup had recruited Mazlan Hashim as VP of Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) to develop risk management strategies, implement mitigation measures, and monitor the effectiveness of risk management practices. His task was to support the company’s anti-fraud team and internal control system established four years ago to ensure business activities comply with set standards.
Hashim had said that the fraud primarily occurred in cash transactions, typically when field officers failed to deposit farmers’ payments for fish feed directly into the bank. These incidents, he had said, were more common in rural areas with poor internet connectivity and where farmers were mostly unbanked.
Ripple effect?
The development involving a prominent startup may have ripple effects on Indonesia’s venture-backed tech ecosystem, which is already grappling with a spate of startup shutdowns, business pivots, mass layoffs, and operational lapses.
eFishery entered the coveted unicorn club — startups valued at over $1 billion — in July 2023 after raising $200 million in a Series D funding round led by Abu Dhabi-based global fund manager 42XFund at around $1.33 billion valuation.
Besides Singapore-registered Silicon Box, eFishery was the only Southeast Asian startup to earn the unicorn tag in 2023. No new unicorn has been minted in 2024 so far.
Prominent investors, including Northstar, Wavemaker Partners, Temasek Holdings, Argor Capital, and SoftBank, have also backed eFishery. It had secured a $30 million green and social loan from HSBC Indonesia for its expansion plans in May this year.
Top shareholders of eFishery
DealStreetAsia reported earlier this month that Argor Capital Management plans to increase its stake in eFishery by closing a $70-million continuation fund. The continuation vehicle is designed to not only acquire the firm’s existing stake but also to purchase stakes from other investors who had agreed to sell, sources had said.
eFishery also operates in India, which it entered in March 2023. In September of this year, the company claimed that its India operations turned EBITDA positive after the first commercial year, with revenue exceeding $5 million.
Governance lapses have been a major pain point for several Indonesian startups. FishLog, another fishery startup, is undergoing significant changes amid financial constraints, downsizing its workforce by more than half and exploring a strategic M&A option, DealStreetAsia reported in October.
The company has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs, coming down from about 250 employees at the end of 2022 to 85, then around 35 as of October, sources had said. FishLog is backed by BRI Ventures, Accel Partners, Mandiri Capital Indonesia, BNI Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners, and Saison Capital, among others.
Meanwhile, agritech startup EdenFarm has been grappling with operational difficulties across multiple fronts and conducted its third round of layoffs in February 2024, raising questions about its viability. It was said to be in talks with Singapore-based food tech company GLife Technologies to be acquired.
In another instance, Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) revoked the business licence of the agritech P2P fintech lending platform TaniFund, after the company failed to meet minimum equity requirements and failed to implement OJK’s recommended supervisory measures.
Another dramatic governance lapse involved Investree, which was considered a potential unicorn. The fintech firm’s licences were revoked by OJK in October due to multiple violations of regulatory policies.
