Portfolio Spotlight: Mayani

THE LOWDOWN: WHY ACCELERATING ASIA INVESTED
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• Team: The Mayani Founders have a depth of experience in B2B tech and startups having worked with Xend (logistics) and clients including Carousell, technical experience and agriculture and farming knowledge.The team has a clear roadmap for future growth and the ability to make Mayani a successful company.
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• Traction: More than US$650k GMV, over 70,000 farmers on the platform and partnerships with Shell, Colgate, HSBC and more.
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• Growth potential: Mayani has the potential to capitalise on a large domestic agriculture output value of US$10B and apply their solution and business model to other markets in SEA.
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THE AGRITECH MARKET

Agriculture is a major contributor to the GDP of many countries in South and Southeast Asia like the Philippines. The Philippines derives almost 10% of its GDP from agriculture and it is a major source of employment with 29% of the population of the labour force in agriculture. In the Philippines alone, the agriculture output value is north of US$10 billion, such a big market allows the likes of Mayani to successfully scale business while being on track to achieve profitability.

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Furthermore, In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 impacted food supply chains and agriculture production, as food demand continued to increase with population growth and a rising middle class in Southeast Asia. It is a key issue across the region and governments, NGOs and corporates are increasingly looking to agritech solutions to support and optimise agricultural supply chains.

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Despite all these factors, digitisation and innovation has until recently been slow, one of our latest investments Mayani is looking to make an impact and difference in this field.

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This was a key driver of Accelerating Asia’s investment into Mayani is the large SEA agri market size and their ability to rapidly expand into other markets.

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THE MAYANI SOLUTION

Mayani is an ag-ecommerce platform that directly sources agricultural products from smallholder farmers and distributes to customers through an end-to-end digitised agri-value chain. Through their innovative technology, they are building a sustainable agri-value chain to scale across Southeast Asia, starting from the Philippines.

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A seed grant from Asian Development Bank (ADB) last year contributed to Mayani’s  build of the proprietary farmers dashboard, and technology. The ongoing partnership has also seen Mayani awarded the ADB Innovation in Focus Award, selected from all the seed grantees from the US, Europe, Central Asia, and APAC.

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Mayani’s technology can be exported and deployed across the Southeast Asia region. It’s technology captures grassroot level data of farmers and is able to sync production cycles to market dynamics of demand and supply. This enables Mayani to secure farmer incomes, deliver farmers’ access to markets and reduce food wastage. Scaling the solution across Southeast Asia and implementing technology in multiple geographies has the potential to deliver high returns for investors.

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TRACTION

Mayani is seeing impressive traction while alleviating small farmers from low wages and reducing inefficiencies in the agri supply chain business. It already has over 72,000 farmers on their platform and is processing GMV in excess of US$650k. They have strong partnerships with leading supermarkets in the Philippines like WalterMart and companies including Shell, Colgate, HSBC and more.

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The agritech startup also partnered with the government in order to ensure efficient supply chains while the country was grappling with the pandemic.

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Their technology can be swiftly and effectively be exported to many other SEA countries which also suffer from inefficient agri supply chains. Hence, we believe that Mayani has the ability to profitably solve a large regional problem while combining purpose with profit.

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THE TEAM

Another reason why we are bullish on Mayani is the team behind the product. The founding team consists of people involved in the agricultural business and farming in the past and have built and run several startups before. They have a clear roadmap for future growth and the ability to make Mayani a successful company. Their experience includes:

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• Tech executive and VP level at Xend (Alexa and CFI-ranked as #1 eCommerce Logistics Company 2017 in PH) with over 500,000 users, led 8X e-Commerce volume growth with key clients including Carousell, 7Eleven and more.
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• Multi-time entrepreneur and founder with experience in B2B companies and Fortune 500 brand clients.
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• 30+ years in agriculture and farming.

The right mix of in-sector experience, contacts and networks in B2B ecommerce, FMCG and tech primes Mayani to deliver on their vision to build a sustainable agri-supply chain in SEA through AgEcommerce.

IMPACT

At the core of what we do is our guiding belief that entrepreneurs are one of humanity’s greatest catalysts for positive change. Our VC investments and approach reflects our guiding belief, we invest in commercially viable startups that have a path to profit and are addressing at least one Sustainable Development Goal.

Our investment into Mayani reflects this approach by delivering impact in:

Goal 1: No Poverty
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• Target 1.1: Eradicate extreme poverty
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• Current indicator and traction: Measured by the rise in small farmers’ income that can be attributed to Mayani - currently tracking at a 50% increase.

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
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• Target 12.3: Halve global per capital food waste
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• Current indicator and traction: Mayani estimates that 20% of food loss is saved each year through the use of the platform and supply chain.

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