Aquaculture fintech platform AquaExchange has raised $3 million (about Rs 23 crore) in funding led by Endiya Partners and Accion Venture Lab. The fintech firm also witnessed participation of existing investors in the funding round.

AquaExchange, a tech-driven platform serving India's multi-billion-dollar shrimp and fish ecosystem, plans to deploy the capital in strengthening its technology, e-commerce operations and expanding its farm automation footprint to over one lakh acres of farms by FY23, according to a statement.

In a statement, the company said it has raised $3 million from Endiya Partners and Accion Venture Lab. AquaExchange's IoT-powered technology aims to help shrimp and fish farmers improve productivity and profits. The startup operates across the value chain through fintech enabled e-commerce platform that offers quality inputs at attractive prices directly from manufacturers.

Other elements include the 'Hardware-as-a-Service' model for farm automation (smart IoT devices under the brand name 'NextAqua') on a subscription basis for automated feeding and 24x7 farm monitoring, as well as the 'Harvest-as-a-Service' market linkage platform. This facilitates harvests at the farm-gate with transparent pricing and assured spot payments to the smallholder farmers, the company said.

Pavan Kosaraju, founder of AquaExchange, said the key focus is on adding value to the aquaculture farming process through the use of advanced technology.

"Our IoT devices and automatic feeders have been installed at scale and are helping farmers with higher reliability/efficiencies in terms of aeration and feed management, while at the same time providing ROIs (return on investment) within the first quarter of usage," Kosaraju said.