Chick It all started when three college friends shared a bowl of smashed fried chicken, a national Indonesian dish. Ayam GeprekWe are passionate about making a real positive impact on Indonesia. Tubagus Syailendra, Ashab Alkafi and Ahmad Syaifulloh Imron.
Starting out as small-scale farmers, they quickly recognized inefficiencies in the poultry sector. From maximizing yields to addressing supply and demand mismatches and increasing operational efficiency, they saw first-hand the opportunities for innovation.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest Muslim country, relies heavily on chicken as its main source of protein. But there is a complex, multifaceted relationship between climate change and poultry farming. “Climate change and agriculture are interrelated and interconnected. It's a cycle with cascading effects,” explains Tubagus.
A key input for poultry farming is feed production, which relies on crops such as corn and soybeans. Climate change can lead to inefficient crop productivity and volatile chicken feed prices, affecting the operations and costs of poultry farmers. In addition, chickens themselves contribute to climate change by emitting methane and ammonia gases from their waste. These emissions exacerbate global warming and deteriorate the quality of the environment in which chickens live. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns directly affect chicken health and well-being, further compounding the challenges faced by poultry farmers.
For these reasons, Tubagus and his co-founders established Chickle’s vision to bridge the gap in protein availability and promote health in Indonesia through innovation and sustainability.
“When we were farmers, maybe it was because we were young, but we had a spirit of innovation. We did research, talked to lecturers and fellow students, and tried to implement all the research on our own farms. Out of that process, the product we created was an IoT device. In 2017, we had a big, ugly black box that we put inside a cage. That was our MVP,” he said with a laugh.
From MVP to final product
“The most important thing is Agriculture “It's about how you steward your community. Our goal was never just to hit a billion-dollar valuation. We chose to focus on how we create impact and make that impact sustainable, and that set us on the right path,” Tubagus said.
With this mindset, the founders knew they needed to build community engagement before monetizing. They created Chickin, a community-based poultry farmer base built to connect and share knowledge over WhatsApp. This community served as a testing ground for Chickin's IoT technology, which then evolved into Chickin Smart Farm. The system utilizes IoT to remotely control the cage environment, improve the living conditions of the animals, and streamline data collection for better performance tracking. By optimizing the efficiency of inputs like feed and electricity usage, Chickin Smart Farm increases profitability for poultry farmers.
Tubagus emphasizes the role of mindset in exploring different paths to profitability: Initially, Chickin jumped on the deal bandwagon, but as the ecosystem continued to grow, it uncovered different ways it could collect more data through IoT technology and create efficiencies from upstream to downstream.
“When we first identified IoT as our end goal, we realized it was just a gateway. We've since realized that the end goal is to provide farmers with the best possible improvements. Our network helps us identify the 'where' and the 'how',” he said.
Today, Chickin Fresh delivers frozen or raw chicken directly from farmers to meet business needs. The quality of Chickin's chicken products is protected and the streamlined value chain ensures that they comply with market standards in terms of freshness, safety, and taste. Additionally, Chickin offers financing and ensures data transparency to facilitate B2B sales and address the mismatch between supply and demand.
Overcome skepticism and leverage competition
Attracting investors proved a challenge: “No one believed in the idea. We kept getting rejected by investors because they thought we had to compete with the incumbents, the big players, in the industry,” laments Tubagus.
But Chickin saw an opportunity in an untapped market where the value chain was still fragmented. It was important to prove that to investors.
Overcoming investor skepticism required strategic storytelling and a balance sheet adjustment. “We came across as a trading company with a heavy balance sheet,” Tubagus recalls. “So we leveraged technology to evaluate stakeholders, which allowed us to provide financing and slim down our balance sheet.”
“Our growth in 2022 is 19 times in one year, proving market fragmentation. We are not competing with the big players in the industry, but complementing their ecosystem,” asserts Tubagus. As a feed distributor, Chicken has established collaborations with the big players. Tubagus explains, “We control the farming operations and provide negotiating power to the big players. By distributing feed and streamlining operations, we empower farmers and strengthen industry collaboration.”
The chicken was successfully raised Seed funding With plans to invest in Chickin from East Ventures and other investors in 2022, throughout the process, contests served as a springboard to secure funding, resources, and most importantly validation. “We participated in multiple contests. Our initial capital was 3 million rupiah ($185 million), but the total amount of funding we received through contests reached 200 million rupiah ($12,425 million). We put everything into working capital to build our product and technology,” Tubagus said. These experiences allowed Chickin to expand its influence and scale its operations exponentially.
For all the innovators who are drawn to the entrepreneurial path like Chewbagus and Chicken, East Ventures and Temasek Foundation are pleased to announce the Climate Impact Innovation Challenge (CIIC) 2024.Following on from the success of 2023,
This year, sustainable agriculture is Three main focus areas (Truck) Competition. Innovators can apply to CIIC by June 4, 2024 to present their ideas for a chance to win a total prize of IDR 10 billion to pilot their projects in Indonesia.
“Tech founders often underestimate the importance of understanding the local context. Dig deep into the problem and immerse yourself in local knowledge. Feel what it is like to be a breeder or a farmer. Don't make excuses, pivot if necessary and ensure your product truly addresses a problem. In areas like tier 2 and tier 3 cities, relying solely on data and research is not enough. You need to be agile, mobile and willing to overcome obstacles or you will miss the real problem at hand,” Tubagus concluded.
Join Indonesia's largest climate technology competition and showcase your innovation now! To apply for CIIC, Climate Impact Innovation.
