Meet Fishlog: Revolutionizing Indonesia’s Fisheries supply chain

Indonesia is the world's second-largest fish producer, with a thriving fisheries industry and over 25 million people working in aquaculture and fishing. The industry is highly fragmented and constantly faces challenges, such as a lack of transparency in market pricing and distrust among stakeholders. In addition, 70% of Indonesian fish is frozen for export, but the storage infrastructure in several areas still needs to be developed. As a result, an estimated 20-29% of fish are lost during transportation and storage each year. The massive waste of fishery resources demands urgent attention and solutions to drive the country’s economy.

With vast industry knowledge, Cofounders Bayu Anggara, Reza Fahlepi, and Abdul Halim—all graduates of IPB University—are building Fishlog, an agritech startup, to solve these inefficiencies.

Fishlog helps maximize the utility of cold-chain facilities and unlock the global selling potential of the fisheries industry. This community-driven B2B platform is designed to streamline the seafood supply chain across Indonesia. In addition to minimizing product waste, the startup is also nurturing talent for the sector.

The Birth of Fishlog

Bayu, the CEO and co-founder of Fishlog, was born in a coastal village. He grew up interacting with fishermen and seeing their potential struggles. That aroused his interest and curiosity in this unexplored space. His professional experience in the industry also helped him understand the existing gaps.

The Fishlog team started with the goal of addressing inefficiencies in the supply chain of the fish industry. As it took a long time to deliver fish from one side of Indonesia to the other, proper processing and preservation were essential to avoid food waste and stabilize prices. They realized they could fix the issue by building a proper cold storage infrastructure in several areas of the country.

FishLog is striving to improve distribution channels for fishermen and offer all B2B stakeholders easier access to real-time inventory. Its goal is to unlock the global market potential for the Indonesian fishing industry. They are committed to providing the best possible experience and positively impacting the industry.

Introducing new business pillars

The Fishlog team has introduced two business pillars. The first is a go-to marketplace enabler to help fishermen and aggregators efficiently and sustainably store, list, and manage their products.

The second model emphasizes the inventory financing pillar that enables fisheries to maximize their upstream-to-downstream operations, where fishermen can store their fish in the Fishlog facility and use the inventory as collateral to secure their funds. This helps them participate in the supply chain at a lower price, which boosts their overall profit.

Fishlog Milestones

Fishlog's milestones are a sign of its growing influence in the Indonesian fish industry.

Fishery infrastructure growth: Fishlog boasts a presence across 40 locations in Indonesia with a capacity to manage 3000 metric tons of fish.

The presence of highly skilled employees: The startup has nearly 200 employees across its quality centers to manage the warehouses and conduct quality checks.

Fishlog Academy: Established the Fishlog academy to expand the talent pool, produce the best future talent, and improve skills in warehouse operations and quality control with on-field training at Quality Centers.

Navigating through challenges with Accel Atoms

Fishlog's journey hasn't been all roses; like every startup, it has had its fair share of challenges.

The first obstacle the startup faced was raising working capital. But, after proving the business model and completing a few fundraisers, the team faced the most pressing challenge of hiring talent. Bayu says that the Accel Atoms program not only gave him great insights to set the fundamental backbone of the company but also helped him develop the right mindset for hiring.

The program taught him how to hire the right talent for the company. He understood the importance of following one's gut while making hiring decisions and noted that this advice during the Accel Atoms program has proven invaluable.

What lies ahead

Fishlog aims to be known as an enabler of a community-driven fisheries ecosystem whereby every stakeholder can participate productively and seamlessly within the industry. The team has already begun setting up its distribution company in the U.S. and hopes to start delivering Indonesian seafood to India, China, and Europe by early next year.