Aquaconnect, the Indian startup aiming to drive change in the Indian aquaculture sector, raised a seed round of $1.1 million (€1 million) from business accelerators Omnivore and Hatch.
Aquaconnect is an AI-enabled platform that integrates Asia’s leading network of aquaculture farmers with predictive SaaS tools for farm management and an omnichannel marketplace. And omnichannel marketplace integrates the different methods of shopping available to consumers, such as mobile phones, physical stores and online shopping.
Aquaconnect is currently focused on India’s $ 7.1 billion (€6.5 billion) aquaculture sector, which produces almost 700,000 tons of farmed shrimp annually, and has become the top global exporter in recent years.
Prior to this seed round, Aquaconnect received angel funding from Hatch, after participating in its inaugural cohort in Bergen, Norway.
This is Omnivore’s second investment in an aquaculture startup, following Eruvaka from its first fund in 2013.
Based in Chennai, Aquaconnect was founded in 2017 by Rajamanohar “Raj” Somasundaram, Sanjai Kumar, and Shanmuga Sundara Raj.
Currently, Aquaconnect has a network of over 3,000 shrimp farmers across India and Indonesia, which it plans to rapidly expand across South and Southeast Asia.