Andreas Senjaya won the fi rst place at Startup Arena Jakarta 2014 held recently. His start-up iGrow provides a system where users can plant, monitor, and develop crops in Indonesia as an investment. When the crops begin to produce fruits and veggies, iGrow’s team helps users turn the yields into cash. Senjaya refers to iGrow users as sponsors.
“They will get a return of their investment after the plants produce crops,” he explains. “However, the speed of this depends on the type of the seed they choose. Peanut plants can produce crops within six months, but durian trees need fi ve years to grow fruit.” So far, Senjaya claims iGrow has 207 sponsors and handles nearly 30,000 plants. After sponsors get a return on their investment, Senjaya says they will then continue to reap 40 percent of all profi ts brought in by the plant thereafter.
The remaining 60 percent of the plant’s income will go toward taking care of the plant until the end of its lifecycle. Senjaya says he is more focused on providing value to users at this point, hasn’t made a fi rm decision about monetizing yet. Senjaya says iGrow targets Indonesia’s middle class urbanites, which is around 60 million people. Based on that number, he estimates the potential market size for iGrow is somewhere close to US$24 billion. Apart from IT experts and business development representatives, Senjaya says iGrow’s founding team also includes a farmer with 610 hectares of land and ten years of agriculture experience.
“iGrow also hopes to become the place where farmers and landowners can gather together and create more potential initiatives,” says Senjaya. “In three to fi ve years we will sell to the international market.”
https://www.techinasia.com/igrow-startup-arenajakarta-2014-startup-asiajakarta/
