The Rise And Fall Of Gibran Huzaifah, The Founder Of eFishery

Gibran Huzaifah’s story once appeared to be the perfect example of an entrepreneur rising against the odds. Born into a poor family, he went from raising catfish while studying at university to building eFishery, an aquaculture technology company valued at US$1.4 billion (around RM5.95 billion).

The company attracted some of the world’s biggest investors, including SoftBank, Temasek and Malaysia’s Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP). It promised to transform fish farming through automated feeders, financing and better access to buyers.

But behind eFishery’s remarkable growth was a very different story.

Its financial results had been manipulated, its business figures were exaggerated and investors were misled about the company’s real performance.

On 29 April 2026, Gibran was sentenced to nine years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering.

How did a struggling university student build one of Indonesia’s most valuable startups, and how did it all collapse?

Here is the remarkable rise and fall of eFishery founder Gibran Huzaifah.

Who Is Gibran Huzaifah?

Gibran grew up near a poor neighbourhood in East Jakarta. His father worked in construction, while his mother was a homemaker.

While studying biology at the Institut Teknologi Bandung, his family faced financial problems. Gibran supported himself by tutoring, working at a convenience store and taking other small jobs.

His business journey began after he joined a fish-farming course. He started raising catfish to earn extra money and eventually managed more than 70 ponds.

“My dream when I was graduating in 2012 was to own a thousand ponds,” he told Bloomberg. “I wanted to be the King of Catfish in Indonesia.”

However, running a fish farm was difficult.

Fish feed made up around 70% to 80% of production costs. Feeding fish by hand also required a lot of time and could lead to waste.

Gibran believed technology could solve the problem.

The Simple Machine That Started eFishery

In 2013, Gibran and a small team of engineers developed an automatic fish-feeding machine.

The early machine was basic. Gibran reportedly helped weld it and write its simple software. Farmers could control when and how much feed was released into their ponds.

He travelled from one fish farm to another on his motorcycle, carrying the machine and asking farmers to test it.

However, many small farmers could not afford the technology. Each machine reportedly cost around US$400 to US$600 (about RM1,700 to RM2,550).

Gibran decided to let farmers rent the machines instead.

This made the technology more affordable, but it created another problem. eFishery had to pay for the machines first and wait several years to recover the cost.

To raise money, Gibran joined startup competitions and learned how to present his business to investors.

In September 2015, Aqua-Spark, a Dutch investment company focused on sustainable aquaculture, became one of eFishery’s earliest investors.

eFishery Became More Than a Fish-Feeding Company

eFishery later grew into a complete technology platform for the aquaculture industry.

The company introduced applications that allowed farmers to monitor their ponds, purchase fish feed, apply for financing and sell their harvest directly to buyers.

Its eFund service connected farmers with financial institutions that might not normally lend money to small aquaculture businesses.

eFishery also introduced Mas Ahya, an artificial intelligence assistant developed using Microsoft technology. It answered farmers’ questions about pond conditions and market prices using simple language and local dialects.

Before its collapse, eFishery claimed to serve more than 100,000 farmers across Indonesia. It also started projects in Bangladesh, Thailand, India and Vietnam.

The technology produced real benefits for some farmers.

One farmer told Bloomberg that the automated feeder gave him “a life beyond the farm” because he no longer needed to spend all his time feeding fish by hand.

However, behind the real technology was a growing financial problem.

The Fraud Began When eFishery Was Running Out of Money

By December 2017, eFishery reportedly had only US$8,142 (around RM34,600) in cash.

The company was struggling to attract new investors and was only months away from running out of money.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Gibran admitted that he began changing eFishery’s financial figures in 2018.

He said he expected investors to discover the false numbers. Instead, they believed the company’s performance was improving and provided more funding.

“I thought I would just do it to survive,” Gibran said.

He claimed that he initially changed the figures to keep eFishery alive. However, after receiving the money, he had to continue showing investors that the company was growing.

What began as a temporary lie eventually became a much larger fraud.

How eFishery Created the Image of Rapid Growth

According to investigations, eFishery kept two sets of financial records.

One showed the company’s real financial performance. The other contained higher figures that were shown to investors, lenders and auditors.

Transactions made by fish farmers were reportedly recorded as eFishery’s revenue, even when the company had played only a small role in them.

Gibran said he had heard from other startup founders that adjusting financial figures was a common practice before fundraising.

“I knew it was wrong,” he admitted. But he said hearing that others were doing the same thing made him question how serious it was.

The company’s reported revenue increased from US$185,000 (around RM786,000) in 2018 to about US$10 million (RM42.5 million) in 2019.

These figures helped eFishery attract larger investors.

In November 2018, the company raised about US$4.7 million (around RM20 million) in its Series A round, led by Singapore-based Wavemaker Partners.

In August 2020, eFishery raised another US$14 million (around RM59.5 million) from investors including Northstar Group and GO-Ventures.

Its largest funding round at the time came in January 2022, when it raised US$90 million (around RM382.5 million). The round was led by Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Sequoia Capital India, which later became Peak XV Partners.

When eFishery Became a Unicorn

eFishery officially became a unicorn in mid-2023 after raising US$200 million (around RM850 million) in its Series D funding round.

The round was led by Abu Dhabi-based 42XFund, previously known as the G42 Expansion Fund. Existing investors SoftBank, Temasek and Northstar also participated.

The investment pushed eFishery’s valuation above US$1.4 billion (around RM5.95 billion).

A unicorn is a privately owned startup valued at more than US$1 billion. The funding made eFishery Indonesia’s first agritech unicorn and one of the world’s most valuable aquaculture technology companies.

It was an extraordinary achievement for Gibran, who had started as a university student raising catfish.

From 2015 to 2024, eFishery reportedly raised approximately US$315 million (around RM1.34 billion) from investors and lenders.

KWAP joined the Series D round with an investment of RM163.4 million for a 2.51% stake in the company.

In May 2024, eFishery also secured a US$30 million loan (around RM127.5 million) from HSBC Indonesia.

But the unicorn’s financial position was not as strong as it appeared.

The Real Numbers Were Much Lower

By 2024, eFishery had around 2,000 employees and was considered one of Southeast Asia’s biggest startup success stories.

However, an internal investigation later found that its financial results had been greatly exaggerated.

For the first nine months of 2024, eFishery reportedly claimed revenue of US$752 million (around RM3.2 billion). Investigators estimated that its real revenue was only US$157 million (around RM667 million).

This meant that almost US$600 million (around RM2.55 billion) of the reported revenue may not have been real.

The company also reported a US$16 million profit (around RM68 million). In reality, investigators estimated that it had suffered a US$35.4 million loss (around RM150 million).

Its business operations were also much smaller than investors had been told.

eFishery reportedly claimed that it had around 400,000 feeding machines operating in the market. Investigators found that the actual number was closer to 24,000 machines.

The fraud was exposed after a whistleblower informed the company’s board in late 2024.

Gibran was suspended as chief executive. Most of eFishery’s employees were later laid off, while a consulting company was appointed to manage the business.

Gibran Was Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison

Indonesian police arrested Gibran and two other former senior executives in August 2025.

Prosecutors accused him of directing the manipulation of eFishery’s accounts. The criminal case involved alleged losses of around 69.47 billion rupiah, or US$4.2 million (around RM17.9 million).

Gibran admitted to changing the company’s financial statements but denied stealing money for his personal benefit.

He claimed the funds were used to keep eFishery operating, hire employees, pay commissions and settle debts.

However, the Bandung District Court rejected his defence.

On 29 April 2026, Gibran was found guilty of embezzlement and money laundering. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined one billion rupiah.

Two other former eFishery executives received prison sentences of eight and seven years.

What Happened to KWAP’s RM163.4 Million Investment?

The scandal raised serious questions in Malaysia because KWAP manages funds connected to civil servants’ pensions.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said KWAP had been deceived through “planned fraud” and manipulated financial reports.

KWAP said its investment went through the required assessment and approval process. The fund also relied on financial statements that had been audited.

Several major global investors were affected, including SoftBank, Temasek, Northstar, Peak XV and 42XFund.

KWAP is now trying to recover as much of its RM163.4 million investment as possible. However, reports suggest eFishery’s investors may recover only a small part of their money.

A Real Business Destroyed by False Numbers

eFishery was not a completely fake business.

Its technology was real, its feeding machines existed and some farmers benefited from its services. Gibran also built the company around problems he had personally experienced as a fish farmer.

But its achievements were hidden behind years of false financial information.

What began as an attempt to save a struggling startup in 2018 grew into a major fraud that misled global investors and destroyed one of Indonesia’s most valuable startups.