Philippine agritech startup Mayani harvests $1.7m in Seed funding

Philippine-based agritech startup Mayani has announced raising $1.7 million in its Seed funding round anchored by AgFunder’s Singapore-based Grow Impact Fund.

Multiple early-stage investors joined the round, including Singaporean VC firms Atlas Ventures and Accelerating Asia Ventures, Australian blue economy-focused firm Ocean Impact Organization, South Korean seed investor TheVentures, Philippines’ Ideaspace Foundation, US pre-seed and seed investor Unlock Ventures, as well as Plug and Play Ventures.

Founded in 2019, Mayani provides a marketplace to connect farmers with individual and enterprise customers. It currently has more than 139,000 farmers and over 11,000 customers on its platform, including businesses such as Shell, Robinsons Group, and Kopiko.

Operating as an e-commerce platform for both consumers and businesses, Mayani’s catalogue lists a variety of ag produce, not just seafood, including vegetables, poultry, coffee, and fruits.

The startup was established by Jeff Barreiro, JT Solis, Josef Amarra, Juan Lorenzo Villanueva, and Ochie San Juan.

It initially operated in Southern Luzon by focusing on lettuce and eggplant farms. It then expanded to handle more products such as poultry, fruits, and coffee.

Its B2B business is currently its core revenue generator and more focused on fish, providing what it calls ‘sustainably produced’ fish to around 500 food service providers, international hotels, food processors, and other institutional buyers.

Aside from the high-quality produce, the firm also distributes “imperfect crops” such as crooked carrots and small potatoes. In total, it has delivered 6.5 tonnes of these kinds of products to individual customers and more than 40 tonnes to the B2B segment.