eFishery suspends co-founders amid allegations of financial misconduct

The co-founders of Indonesian aquaculture startup eFishery, CEO Gibran Huzaifah and Chief Product Officer Chrisna Aditya, have been suspended pending an investigation into alleged financial misconduct, according to Indonesian news reports.

DealStreetAsia reported on 15 December the company's decision to suspend Huzaifah and Aditya, bringing in interim CEO Adhy Wibisono and interim CFO Albertus Sasmitra, and published details of a leaked communication to shareholders which indicated that Huzaifah was being investigated regarding "financial risk reporting of performance and revenue".

eFishery was co-founded by Gibran and Adita in 2013, and since then has grown to become one of Indonesia's business success stories. Last year, the company secured US $200 Million from its Series D Funding round, taking it to a total valuation of US $1.4 billion, and making the Indonesian startup the first aquaculture "unicorn", and the 15th Indonesian company to pass the US $1 billion valuation mark.

Investors in eFishery's Series D round included Malaysia's largest public sector pension fund, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), Switzerland-based impact fund responsAbility, and early investor multi-stage venture capital firm 500 Global, in addition to existing investors such as NorthStar, Temasek, SoftBank, and eFishery's largest shareholder, Aqua-Spark.

One year ago, the company successfully concluded its first commercial pilot in India, which eFishery then described as "significant milestone" in its global expansion drive, and in March 2024 it acquired IoT startup DycodeX to drive forward AI-supported products.