eFishery, an Indonesian startup in the aquaculture sector, has temporarily suspended its CEO Gibran Huzaifah and CPO Chrisna Aditya, both co-founders of the company. The decision comes as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged financial misconduct within the unicorn startup.
In Jakarta Globe, the company said investors and shareholders have been informed of the investigation, which centres around reports of financial performance and revenue discrepancies linked to the two executives. Gibran and Chrisna each held about 9% of the company’s shares.
eFishery’s institutional investors include UAE’s 42XFund, Switzerland’s responsAbility, Singapore’s Temasek, Japan’s SoftBank, Malaysia’s Kumpulan Wang Persaraan, Northstar Ventures, and 500 Global.
In the wake of their suspension, eFishery swiftly appointed interim leaders to fill the vacant positions. Adhy Wibisono has been named interim CEO, while Albertus Sasmitra will serve as interim CFO.
eFishery’s chief financial officer (CFO) Dhianendra Laksmana had resigned from the company in April 2024 citing personal reasons. So far, there are no indications that Fishery’s operations are impacted despite the change in the top management.
Adhy Wibisono, who is currently group CFO of the Indonesian real estate plattorm NWl Property, a portiolio company of Warburg Pincus, has been picked by the board as the company’s new CEO. Meanwhile. Albertus Indra Sasmitra, director, Northstar Group will take over as the new CFO of the startup. Both appointments have been approved by the company’s investors.
“This decision was made in collaboration with the company’s shareholders to ensure stronger corporate governance,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The company added that eFishery recognizes the seriousness of the issue and is fully committed to addressing it.
“We are fully aware of the significance of this matter and are giving it our full attention. eFishery remains committed to maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance and ethical business practices,” the statement added.
DealStreetAsia reported that eFishery has been undergoing an internal restructuring. In July, it laid off an undisclosed number of employees citing “structural adjustments”.
In Sep 2024, Huzaifah acknowledged that the company was dealing with instances of internal fraud. The aquatech startup had recruited Mazlan Hashim as VP of Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) to develop risk management strategies, implement mitigation measures, and monitor the effectiveness of risk management practices.
The development involving a prominent startup may have ripple effects on Indonesia’s venture-backed tech ecosystem, which is already grappling with a spate of startup shutdowns, business pivots, mass layoffs, and operational lapses.
Fishery entered the coveted unicorn club – startups valued at over USD 1 billion – in July 2023 after raising USD200 million in a Series D funding round led by Abu Dhabi-based global fund manager 42XFund at around USD1.33 billion valuation.
Besides, Singapore-registered Silicon Box, eFishery was the only Southeast Asian startup to earn the unicorn tag in 2023. No new unicorn has been minted in 2024 so far.
Prominent investors including Northstar, Wavemaker Partners, Temasek Holdings, Argor Capital, and Softbank have also backed eFishery. It had secured a USD30 million green and social loan from HSBC Indonesia for its expansion plans in May this year.
