Semaai has raised $1.25 million in its pre-seed round led by Sequoia Surge and Beenext. Angel investors Nipun Mehra, Harshet Lunani and Prashant Pawar participated in the round. Semaai will use a large part of the funding to expand its engineering and product teams in India. “Semaai is planning to grow its tech talent in India by at least three times by the end of the year 2022,” the company said in a statement.

“Even after their contribution to Indonesia’s economy, farmers and rural MSMEs, they find it extremely difficult to maintain their livelihoods and take advantage of the increasing middle-class demand for various food products. This is because of the fragmented and complex agricultural supply chains in Indonesia, which leads to opaque pricing, lack of access to affordable farming inputs, and a huge mismatch in supply and demand,” the company added.

Founded in April 2021 by Abhishek Gupta, Gaurav Batra and Muhammad Yoga Anindito, Semaai offers services for rural agricultural communities. “We are committed to growing our team and expertise to help empower rural farming communities across Indonesia and enhancing our tech solutions to boost their earning potential,” Gupta said.