Who is SariSuki
SariSuki is addressing agricultural inefficiencies in the Philippines by connecting supply and demand. Initially, it focused on boosting demand during the pandemic by enabling community leaders to sell affordable products through a reseller platform. Leveraging community trust, it reached both individual and, eventually, B2B customers. Sarisuki has grown into the largest seller of wet market produce on a leading online marketplace, while also expanding its reach to prominent supermarket shelves. Now, SariSuki is optimizing the supply side by helping farmers adopt modern techniques, providing financial support, and farming on idle land. Sarisuki is transforming the agricultural value chain to benefit both farmers and consumers.
Why We Invested
The Market: Agriculture contributes to approximately 12% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs around 32% of the working force. Despite being a key economic sector, there is a lack of investment in the supply chain, resulting in shortages, poor produce quality and price increases for the consumer.
The Philippines’ agricultural trade deficit stood at US$ 11.49B in 2023, almost a 9x increase from 2005. Comparatively, in 2023, both Thailand and Vietnam held agricultural trade surpluses.
The Department of Agriculture also reports that the country’s yield per hectare has been underperforming compared to Southeast Asian counterparts. In addition to the smaller yield, the Philippines wastes up to 40% of the produce harvested due to the absence of post-processing facilities in the Philippines. According to a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) that surveyed the prices and marketing of 22 crops over the span of five years, the price increase between farm-gate and retail prices range from 20% to 392%.
Farmers still remain one of the most poverty-stricken groups in the country. According to PSA, the poverty rate among farmers was 30% in 2012, twice the national average. This is due to the lack of access to credit, capital, markets, materials and many more factors. By improving the working conditions and livelihood of the farmers, more people will be encouraged to work in this sector rather than stay reluctant.
The Company: SariSuki is strategically positioned to address key inefficiencies in the agricultural sector, bridging both supply and demand gaps. During the pandemic, SariSuki initially focused on enhancing the demand side by providing community leaders with an assortment of products at a lower cost. Community selling was made possible through their reseller platform that gave users access to a sales and commission tracker, order management system, and more. Their approach leveraged the strong community trust within the Philippines to reach both individual consumers and, over time, B2B customers.
Since then, SariSuki has broadened its efforts to optimize the supply side, improving food production and refining the value chain further. SariSuki is not only transforming farming practices by encouraging farmers to adopt modern agricultural techniques and providing financial aid, but they have made use of idle land by planting and farming themselves. With access to hectares of idle land, they’ve already demonstrated impressive results, achieving a 25% increase in eggplant yield per hectare as of Q1 2024.
By boosting yields, establishing infrastructure, and reducing the number of middlemen, SariSuki is making agritech a financially viable and scalable venture, which translates to savings for customers. They are also developing essential post-harvest facilities, including cold washing, sorting, grading, and packing, to further reduce waste across the supply chain.
The Team: The founders of SariSuki come from different professional backgrounds, from corporate to entrepreneurial, which is why we think the company has seen so much success. During his instrumental roles at Grab and Gojek, Brian Cu brings over a decade of experience solving local and regional infrastructure shortcomings in transportation. Like a true entrepreneur, he built SariSuki in his living room and realized the idea from a very personal experience - his wife’s community buying efforts during the pandemic. His experience building successful startups and growing them from the ground up allows him to drive innovation.
Coming in as the Chief Commercial Officer, Bam Mejia boasts a 17-year experience in P&G, one of the biggest FMCGs in the world. Having started his career by immersing himself in sari-sari stores, Bam knows how to navigate community selling. He brings over a decade of brand management and sales experience, helping him drive growth in SariSuki.
Philippe Lorenzo has an intimate understanding of the eCommerce industry, previously founding e-commerce enabler Ropo Ventures. Besides his experience in building e-commerce, he drove operational growth in e-commerce giant Zalora and fintech platform MoneyMax. Handling cross-functional teams in his previous roles equips him to be the Chief Operating Officer running the fast-paced day-to-day operations of the company.
Angelo Lee has a wealth of experience in finance, working in private equity at Sierra Madre and as an angel investor. He understands what investors are looking for, being on the other side of the table, which makes him fit to be the Head of Strategy & Fundraising for SariSuki.
With their combined expertise, the founding team ensures SariSuki continues to excel in its operations, scaling growth, and delivering meaningful impact.
To learn more, visit https://sarisuki.com/