Bali, Indonesia – Terratai is proud to announce its investment in Birufinery, a women-led seaweed company revolutionizing Indonesia’s agricultural sector while empowering coastal communities and protecting marine ecosystems. This investment is made possible through Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
Indonesia is the world’s second-largest seaweed producer, yet 80% of its seaweed is exported unprocessed, resulting in minimal economic value for local communities. Birufinery addresses this challenge by building a vertically integrated model—from sustainable seaweed cultivation to R&D-driven product innovation—unlocking the economic potential of tropical seaweed while delivering measurable environmental and social impact.
Founded in 2024 by a team of seasoned entrepreneurs—Azalea Ayuningtyas, Hanna Keraf, Dr. Amadeus Pribowo, and Wenny Andriani— Birufinery is transforming tropical seaweed into bio stimulants that reduce chemical fertilizer dependence, improve crop yields, and restore soil health. Operating from Flores and Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara, the company has developed an innovative inti-plasma farming model that partners with smallholder coastal communities, creating stable livelihoods while ensuring sustainable seaweed supply.
Birufinery achieves impact in two ways: upstream, the company works with coastal communities to establish sustainable seaweed farms that absorb excess nitrogen from ocean waters, helping to remediate marine pollution and reduce overly enriched waters, a process called “eutrophication.” These farms create biodiversity sanctuaries while providing economic incentives for communities to protect coral reefs and eliminate harmful fishing practices
Downstream, Birufinery’s flagship bio stimulant, BiruLift, enables plantation owners to reduce chemical fertilizer use by up to 30% while maintaining or improving yields. By reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers, Birufinery products also help avoid emissions associated with fertilizer production and nitrogen runoff, while improving soil health and supporting long-term agricultural regeneration.
With Terratai’s investment, Birufinery expects to impact 1,200+ farmers, avoid 20,000 tons of CO₂ emissions, remove 350 tons of nitrogen from oceans, reduce chemical fertiliser usage by 25-30%, and achieve 35% female farm labour participation. The company currently manages 3 hectares of seaweed farms and plans to scale to over 80 hectares by 2029.
Birufinery also exemplifies women’s leadership in climate innovation and natural resource management. Three of the four co-founders are female, including CEO Azalea Ayuningtyas and Chief Partnership Officer Hanna Keraf—both serial social entrepreneurs who previously built Du Anyam, a successful social enterprise empowering over 1,400 women artisans across Indonesia. Within the Birufinery model, women’s involvement in seaweed farming operations is as important are men’s and can provide women with valuable job opportunities.
“We’re thrilled to support the team at Birufinery. It’s rare that companies are able to demonstrate positive upstream and downstream impact within their supply chains, and for Terratai, our investment in Birufinery offers a unique opportunity to support a transition to a nature positive agricultural economy on land and on sea. We’re confident that the growing market for seaweed derived biostimulants will continue to flourish, and Birufinery are very well positioned to become market leaders in this space,” said Matt Leggett, CEO of Terratai.
“We founded Birufinery to unlock the extraordinary potential of tropical seaweed to transform the future of agriculture, while creating sustainable prosperity for coastal communities. With a founding team experienced in biotechnology, agribusiness, and community development, we are building scalable solutions that champion innovation and impact. Terratai’s support and shared vision accelerate our journey to becoming a global leader in tropical seaweed innovation” said Azalea Ayuningtyas, Co-founder & CEO of Birufinery.
“Birufinery shows how women-led climate innovation is transforming Indonesia’s blue economy. Their approach demonstrates that women are not only participating in climate solutions but actively redefining them. We are proud to support Birufinery’s work in restoring marine ecosystems and creating sustainable coastal livelihoods through our partnership with Terratai,” said Hannah Birdsey, CEO of Investing in Women.
Through this collaboration, Birufinery, Terratai, and Investing in Women are working to prove that protecting nature, empowering women, and building profitable businesses are not competing priorities—but essential ingredients for a truly sustainable future.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Wenny Andriani
Chief Commercial Officer – Birufinery
wenny@birufinery.com
+62 811 8709 061
Naimmah Nur Aini
Communication & Engagement Officer – Terratai
naimmah@terratai.com
+62 856 414 88 333
About Birufinery:
Founded in 2024, Birufinery (PT Karya Biru Inovasi) is a women-led seaweed company developing sustainable bio stimulants for agriculture. Operating from Flores and Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara, Birufinery integrates sustainable seaweed farming with R&D and commercialization to improve crop yields, reduce chemical fertilizer use, and unlock new applications for tropical seaweed. Through its inti-plasma farming model, Birufinery partners with smallholder coastal farmers to provide inputs, training, and stable income while protecting marine biodiversity and creating economic incentives for reef conservation.
About Terratai:
Terratai is Asia’s first venture builder for nature, focused on early-stage businesses delivering nature-based solutions. Established with the aim of addressing the shortfall in early-stage funding for nature-centric enterprises, Terratai is dedicated to amplifying and expanding impactful endeavours that tackle systemic hurdles within the realms of biodiversity loss. The organization offers impact-oriented businesses support by providing financial solutions, NBS technical expertise and business development.
About Investing in Women:
Investing in Women (IW) is an Australian Government initiative to accelerate women’s economic equality and promote inclusive economic growth across Southeast Asia. Through partnerships with diverse stakeholders, we support women to thrive in the workplace and succeed in business. Building on the results, partnerships and lessons achieved since 2016, IW works with business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, advocates and policymakers to remove barriers to women’s full economic participation in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, and, to a limited extent, Myanmar. IW harnesses the capacity of the private sector, from large enterprises to small-to-medium business, to drive gender equality.