Secai Marche

About Secai Marche

Secai Marche is a B2B farm-direct e-commerce platform that connects farmers and producers with restaurants, retailers, and hotels, primarily in Southeast Asia. The company was founded in July 2018 by Ami Sugiyama and Shusaku Hayakawa. The founders' backgrounds were complementary; Hayakawa was previously a farmer and technical engineer who understood the pain points of producers, while Sugiyama had run her own cafe in Malaysia and knew the challenges faced by restaurant operators. Prior to launching Secai Marche, they also worked together at a consulting company that exported Japanese agricultural products to Singapore.

The company's core business revolves around a vertically integrated model that combines an e-commerce marketplace with its own cold-chain logistics network. This allows Secai Marche to provide one-stop fulfillment services, including on-farm collection, sorting, packing, quality management, and last-mile delivery. The platform aims to streamline agricultural logistics, which are often underdeveloped for perishable goods in Southeast Asia, thereby ensuring freshness, transparency, and value. The business model is based on a sales margin, purchasing products from farmers based on orders received from restaurants and retaining a 20-30% margin. By aggregating a supplier network across Southeast Asia and Japan, the platform offers over 4,000 products, including fresh vegetables, fruits, eggs, and seafood.

Secai Marche operates in Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Initially launched in Japan and Malaysia in 2018 and 2019 respectively, the company has shown strong growth, particularly in the Malaysian and Singaporean markets. The company leverages technology, including an AI-powered demand forecasting system, to predict restaurant needs, automate ordering, and optimize its logistics. This data-driven approach helps reduce food waste to below 1% and allows for more efficient, small-lot, multi-product deliveries. Looking ahead, the company is considering offering microfinance services to farmers based on its collected data and demand predictions.

The company has successfully raised capital through multiple funding rounds. Key investments include a $1.5 million pre-Series A round in May 2021 from investors like Rakuten Ventures and Beyond Next Ventures. This was followed by a Series A round that accumulated approximately $8.68 million through various extensions, with participation from entities such as MOL Plus (the venture arm of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines), Nippon Express (NX Group), Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and others. These funds are being used to expand fulfillment centers, enhance AI capabilities, automate logistics, and increase marketing efforts to capture a larger market share in Southeast Asia.