eFishery’s Billion Rupiah Scam: A Wake Up Call for Indonesia’s Tech Ecosystem

The shocking eFishery scandal has rattled the Indonesian tech ecosystem. Once Indonesia’s pride in agritech, eFishery now faces serious allegations of accounting fraud, marking one of the biggest unicorn meltdowns in recent memory.

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From Agritech Unicorn to Fraud Allegations

Founded in 2013 in Bandung, eFishery set out to revolutionize shrimp and fish farming through IoT powered smart feeders. By 2023, it had reached unicorn status after raising a 200 million US dollar Series D round, placing its valuation at over 1.4 billion US dollars.

Then came the red flags. In late 2024, a whistleblower alerted board members to major inconsistencies. A forensic audit revealed that eFishery had allegedly inflated its revenue by nearly 600 million US dollars in the first nine months of 2024 alone. What was presented as a 16 million dollar profit was, in reality, a 35 million dollar loss. That means over 75 percent of reported external revenue was based on fake startup metrics.

Authorities detained founder Gibran Huzaifah and two other executives in July 2025, marking the beginning of what is now considered a major unicorn fraud case.

What Went Wrong

Evidence suggests that eFishery maintained two separate sets of financial records. The external reports inflated revenue nearly five times, while internal documents showed consistent losses since 2021. The company also exaggerated the number of smart feeder units deployed, claiming 400,000 while the real figure was closer to 24,000.

To sustain the illusion, shell companies were allegedly created, invoices fabricated, and contracts forged. It wasn’t just financial misreporting, it was deliberate manipulation designed to mislead investors, stakeholders, and even employees.

Not Just Another Indonesia Startup Fraud

This isn’t just one rogue company gone wrong. The eFishery news has broader implications for the startup landscape. Investors, including global firms like SoftBank and Temasek, reportedly failed to detect these discrepancies during due diligence. Regulators, too, have been criticized for inadequate oversight in Indonesia’s private tech sector.

The scandal has exposed a critical weakness in how startups are evaluated, with too much weight given to top line growth and not enough scrutiny of the fundamentals. It’s a reminder that in the race to build billion dollar startups, integrity often takes a backseat.

A Wake Up Call for Tech Startup Transparency

This moment should be a turning point for Indonesia. It’s time to prioritize tech startup transparency over vanity metrics. Founders must embrace accountability, and investors must go beyond surface level numbers. Due diligence needs to evolve, and so does governance.

But beyond the issue of fraud lies a deeper challenge. Many startups in Indonesia rush into digital transformation without fully understanding its complexity. If you're exploring how to digitize your operations the right way, with clarity and long term structure, check out our related article: Challenges in Implementing Digital Transformation. It breaks down the real obstacles businesses face, from legacy systems to cultural resistance, and offers insights on how to navigate them effectively.

Hope on the Horizon

Despite the damage, there’s still hope. This scandal could push the Indonesian tech ecosystem to mature. With better oversight, improved investor education, and stronger startup governance, the ecosystem can become more resilient and credible, not just locally, but globally.

Final Thoughts

The eFishery scandal is more than just a headline, it's a warning. It challenges the current narrative of hypergrowth at any cost and shines a spotlight on the dark side of Indonesia’s tech boom. To rebuild trust, the community must move from hype driven culture to one grounded in transparency, ethics, and sustainable growth.

Because in the end, a startup’s true worth isn’t measured by inflated metrics, but by the impact it creates, the trust it earns, and the truth it tells.

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