Vietnam shrimp farming platform Tepbac raises $2.25 mln

Vietnam-based Tepbac has received $2.25 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Dutch aquaculture investor Aqua-Spark that will help the shrimp technologist digitize and scale up Vietnamese shrimp farm production.

AgFunder, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital (VC) firm focusing on foodtech and agtech, and Son-Tech Investment, a $50 million Vietnam-focused VC company, participated in the round. Son-Tech targets edutech, fintech, logistics, entertainment, digital health or consumer tech startups.

AgFunder, an existing investor in Tepbac, revealed the latest funding round Friday, saying Tepbac will use the funding to scale its suite of technologies to help farmers simplify shrimping operations, save costs and improve decision-making. Tepbac was among the 10 startups selected for AgFunder’s GROW Impact Accelerator 2022 cohort.

Vietnam is one of the top five shrimp producers globally, with exports growing 11% year-over-year to hit $4.3 billion in 2022, according to the Vietnamese Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters. The country plans to triple production in the future.

Tepbac began life as an aquaculture media platform in 2012 and is now a leading aquaculture knowledge platform that includes the latest news on the aquaculture industry, seafood prices and a library of information to help farmers.

In 2017, the company launched Farmext, a technology platform including hardware and software deployed across Vietnam’s aquaculture supply chain to help farmers reduce risks associated with shrimp farming. The system includes a remote-controlled auto feeder, a water quality monitoring device and software that helps farmers track farm data and automate their operations to save on labor and energy costs.

Tepbac also claims to have cheaper options compared to its counterparts, and its solutions can be used not just for shrimp but for other marine fish too. Additionally, farmers can keep a ‘farming diary’ to track data on feed and other elements; Tepbac’s software analyzes this data to estimate operational costs and expected profit.

The company says it has already reduced farmers’ costs by 20% and increased profits by 30%.