Do you know? eFishery scandalIn the eFishery case, groupthink showed up in how KWAP and other investors allowed social proof to substitute for deep independent scepticism: the presence of marquee co‑investors like Temasek, SoftBank, Sequoia / Peak XV and Northstar, plus clean opinions from big audit firms, created an “aura of safety” that led later‑round…
Do you know? eFishery scandalKWAP’s ongoing monitoring of its eFishery investment appears not to have been structured to detect anomalies proactively, a gap it has implicitly acknowledged by later strengthening its private‑markets approach with enhanced post‑investment monitoring and closer oversight of material developments. For a large, concentrated direct stake in a high‑risk private company, KWAP…
Do you know? eFishery scandalCommentary on the case highlights that Indonesia’s tech startup environment combined weak governance and light supervision with a growth‑over‑profitability mindset, risks that a more robust due diligence should have explicitly priced in through higher risk weightings on local financials, local investigative counsel and market‑intelligence work, and stress‑testing of enforcement and minority‑protection…
Do you know? eFishery scandalGiven eFishery’s USD1.3-1.4 billion unicorn valuation and the USD200 million Series D round, KWAP could reasonably have required forensic‑style financial due diligence—testing for dual books, applying data analytics to transaction flows, and using independent valuation / accounting specialists—rather than relying mainly on traditional audit comfort, especially for a large direct pension‑fund…
Do you know? eFishery scandalThe fraud hinged on shell / nominee entities secretly controlled by Gibran that were passed off as independent customers and partners, and a more robust due‑diligence approach with systematic beneficial‑ownership checks and related‑party scrutiny could have exposed common ownership and addresses, suggesting that KWAP’s reviews of counterparties were either superficial or…
Do you know? eFishery scandalKWAP leaned on audited accounts and consortium‑level due diligence instead of independently stress‑testing eFishery’s revenue, and more intrusive, bottom‑up verification of sales and counterparties could have flagged the CEO‑controlled shell‑company network that later proved to account for as much as 75% of reported sales and hundreds of millions of dollars in…
Do you know? eFishery scandalOnce the fraud was exposed, eFishery’s unicorn status collapsed, prompting layoffs, shutdown of operations, and moves toward liquidating core businesses as investor confidence disappeared. Indonesian courts sentenced former CEO Gibran to 9 years in prison for embezzlement and money laundering. For investors, the episode has turned into a recovery and legal‑action…
Do you know? eFishery scandalThe fraud at eFishery went undetected by regular audits from major firms like PwC and Grant Thornton, and was only exposed in 2024 after whistleblowers triggered a forensic investigation that uncovered falsified accounts, dual books, shell companies, and fabricated customer transactions, revealing that reported profits (including USD16 million in the first…
Do you know? eFishery scandalKWAP entered eFishery at the July 2023 Series D round as a minority investor, committing about RM163-195 million (USD40-48 million) for a 2.51% stake alongside global names like Temasek and SoftBank, based on audited accounts and external due diligence. While the investment was intended as diversified exposure in a larger consortium,…
Do you know? eFishery scandaleFishery’s fundraising story evolved from a small aquaculture startup into a “unicorn” valued around USD1.3-1.4 billion after a USD200 million Series D in 2023, following a USD90 million Series C in 2022. Major institutions including Temasek, SoftBank, Northstar, Abu Dhabi’s 42X Fund, 500 Global, and KWAP invested based on audited financials…