Aquarech

Kenya | Aquaponics & Fishing

Company

Aquarech improves the productivity of fish farmers, opens access to markets and creates an inclusive aquaculture value chain using mobile technology and IoT sensors.

Problem

In Kenya, fluctuating water temperatures due to climate change have made it difficult for fish farmers to know when and how much to feed their stock. Fish are sensitive to water temperature and only eat when the temperature is within a certain range.

Solution

Aquarech is Kenya’s first fish farming platform to enable fish farmers, fish feed manufacturers and buyers to trade and create trusted relationships. Aquarech received a GSMA grant in November 2022 to further test and scale their pilot project of IoT devices for fish farmers. This included enhancing their mobile app and USSD platform.

Impact

Since partnering with the GSMA, Aquarech has:
– Increased the number of fish farmers and fish traders using the Aquarech app from 250 to 3,859. Of these users, 1,326 are women.
– Raised $1.7 million in equity funding to hire talent, acquire more feed and set up infrastructure to support more vertical integration of their technology. The investment was led by Aqua-Spark, a Netherlands-based global aquaculture investment fund, with additional capital from Acumen, Katapult and Mercy Corps Ventures.

A message from the founder

“Aquarech is at the forefront of aquaculture innovations to transform fish farmer livelihoods across Kenya. Strengthening the fish value chain and spearheading sustainable, environment-friendly practices buoys all actors involved. Funding from the GSMA Innovation Fund will be the catalyst for us to achieve vertical coordination between our game-changing technology, fish farmers and fish traders, increasing their climate resilience.”

– Dave Okech, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer

Founder

Dave Okech

Team | 11-50 Employees

Aquarech Team

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