The archive · Commerce & Marketplaces · Operational decision · 2020–2026
Chickin bets IoT plus farmer financing can fix Indonesia's chicken supply chain
Indonesian agritech Chickin, founded 2020 by chicken farmers, bets IoT cages plus financing fix the fragmented broiler market; $20M round, Rp250B DBS loan.
Chickin
What the business is
Chickin is an Indonesian agritech company that modernizes broiler chicken farming: IoT climate-control hardware (CI Touch) and cloud software for farmers, financing for feed and chicks, contract-farming partnerships, and a downstream processing and distribution business selling chicken cuts to hotels, restaurants, caterers and food processors.
Starting capital：US$20M Series A+ (Oct 2024, US$15M equity + US$5M debt); IDR250B working-capital loan from Bank DBS Indonesia (Jan 2025); undisclosed seed led by East Ventures (2022)
How it started
Founded in 2020 by Ashab Alkahfi, Tubagus Syailendra and Ahmad Syaifullah after years of raising chickens themselves, Chickin set out to democratize a highly fragmented industry where fast harvest cycles create uncontrollable supply and demand, mismatches and quality problems. Its first offering was cloud-based farm management with dashboard monitoring and cage tools, plus IoT hardware that adjusts the cage climate to optimize the feed conversion ratio.
What happened
East Ventures led an undisclosed seed round in 2022, when Chickin reported more than 150 farm locations, 2.6 million chicken capacity, over 200 B2B clients and 50x year-on-year revenue growth. In October 2024 it raised a US$20 million Series A+ — US$15 million equity and US$5 million debt — from Granite Asia, East Ventures, Integra Partners, the Asian Development Bank, 500 Global and Aksara Ventures; 500 Global said Chickin Smartfarm was used by close to 10,000 farmers managing over 10 million chickens, and Chickin Fresh had distributed 7.9 million kilograms of chicken. In January 2025 Bank DBS Indonesia extended a IDR250 billion loan so Chickin could replace expensive unsecured P2P borrowing with cheaper bank funding.
How it ended up
Still running and scaling: as of January 2025 Chickin had about 12,000 partner cages across Indonesia — mostly Central Java and Yogyakarta — with roughly 2% of the national broiler market, and said it prioritized business health over aggressive share gains while targeting 2x growth.
Background
Chickin is an Indonesian agritech company founded in 2020 by Ashab Alkahfi, Tubagus Syailendra and Ahmad Syaifullah, three operators who had spent years farming chickens themselves. It builds cloud-based farm management software plus IoT cage hardware (CI Touch) that adjusts climate to optimize the feed conversion ratio, finances feed and chicks, runs contract-farming partnerships, and sells processed chicken to hotels, restaurants, caterers and food processors.
The bet is that Indonesia's highly fragmented broiler industry — fast harvest cycles, uncontrollable supply and demand, and limited farmer access to capital and technology — can be fixed by bundling data, hardware and financing for small farmers rather than selling software to them. By 2022 Chickin reported more than 150 farm locations and 2.6 million chicken capacity; by late 2024, close to 10,000 farmers managing over 10 million chickens and 7.9 million kilograms of chicken distributed through its Chickin Fresh channel.
Chickin raised a US$20 million Series A+ in October 2024 — US$15 million equity and US$5 million debt — from Granite Asia, East Ventures, Integra Partners, the Asian Development Bank, 500 Global and Aksara Ventures, then took an IDR250 billion working-capital loan from Bank DBS Indonesia in January 2025 to replace expensive unsecured P2P borrowing. As of January 2025 it ran about 12,000 partner cages, roughly 2% of Indonesia's broiler market, and served more than 200 corporate clients.
What has to be true
- The founders had farmed chickens themselves for years before incorporating, so they experienced the feed-cost, capital and price-risk problems first-hand instead of inferring them from market data.
- Indonesia's broiler industry is extremely fragmented with uncontrollable supply and demand cycles, giving a vertically integrated platform room to fix mismatches from cage to kitchen.
- Chickin bundles IoT hardware with input financing and a B2B sales channel, which farmers actually lack — software alone would not change their capital constraints or price risk.
- Banks joined the bet: DBS Indonesia extended IDR250 billion in working capital to replace costlier P2P debt, letting Chickin lower its cost of funds while scaling partner cages.
What can be applied
A fragmented commodity chain needs capital, not just software: farmers lack working capital and a buyer, so Chickin bundled IoT, financing and distribution.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Chickin is operating and scaling: its upstream business supplies day-old chicks, feed and veterinary products through partnership schemes with IoT-equipped cages, and its downstream business processes live birds and distributes cuts to more than 200 companies across Indonesia. The CEO said in January 2025 the company wanted to roughly double while keeping growth and business health balanced, with most partner cages in Central Java and Yogyakarta and about 2% national market share. No profitability figures or exit have been disclosed.
Sources
- Bank DBS Indonesia gives IDR250 billion loan to help Chickin revolutionise chicken farming in Indonesia
- Bank DBS Indonesia Beri Pendanaan Rp 250 Miliar untuk Startup Peternakan Chickin
- Chickin, an Indonesia-based poultry startup, raised seed funding led by East Ventures
- Daily Markup 1109: Chickin raises US20M Series A
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