Sinking eFishery rattles bank loans
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Hi there,
I attended eFishery’s first loan deal press conference in Jakarta three years ago. In the event, the aquatech firm announced that it had secured a US$32 million loan from DBS Indonesia.
At the time, eFishery was on the rise. Many in the industry admired its founder and CEO, Gibran Huzaifah. I still remember people lining up to take photos with him after a different conference in Jakarta.
What has happened to the company recently is shocking. It’s a blow to the startup industry as a whole, especially as funding is expected to become even harder to secure.
Banks that have been actively lending to startups may tighten their due diligence or loan requirements. Besides DBS, HSBC has also been providing startup loans through its US$1 billion ASEAN Growth Fund.
Even if eFishery’s issues won’t completely dry up bank funding, startups will likely have more to prove to secure those funds.
-- Jofie Yordan , journalist at Tech in Asia
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