The Indonesian company’s core product is a biostimulant that combines tropical seaweed extracts with beneficial microbes, designed to improve soil health, increase nutrient uptake and boost crop resilience.
Founded in 2024 by Azalea Ayuningtyas, Hanna Keraf, Dr. Amadeus Pribowo, and Wenny Andriani, the firm sources multiple varieties of seaweed locally from coastal communities in eastern Indonesia.
Speaking to AgTechNavigator, CEO Ayuningtyas emphasised the untapped applications of tropical seaweed in agriculture.
In particular, she highlighted the growing importance of biostimulants amid rising climate and soil pressures.
“We firmly believe that biostimulants will be part of the future of agriculture, not just sustainable agriculture… There was a paper that predicted that agricultural yield could go down 20 to 30 per cent if we just go on business as usual,” said Ayuningtyas.
She added that by producing biostimulants from tropical seaweed, it can make the products far more affordable and widely available.
“By using tropical seaweed, we can deliver the same or similar benefits at a more affordable price and with a more scalable supply. If we can become one of the leading biostimulant producers for developing countries, that would be significant. Right now, most seaweed‑based biostimulants come from high‑income Western countries, and they are quite expensive, so they are mostly used for high‑value crops like fruits. We believe that by utilising tropical seaweed, we can make biostimulants more affordable and scalable and therefore penetrate developing markets more effectively.”
Beyond biostimulants, the company eventually aims to use seaweed side streams to develop animal feed, cosmetic ingredients, and nutraceutical or pharmaceutical products.
Optimising performance
Birufinery’s biostimulant has three main applications.
In areas with already optimal productivity, it enables a reduction of chemical fertiliser use by about 30 per cent, and sometimes up to 50 per cent, without sacrificing yield.
In degraded or low‑productivity land, or where farmers are under‑fertilising due to cost concerns, the biostimulant can be added on top of existing regimens to increase yield by 15 to 50 percent.
It can also be applied during the growth phase of crops, helping young plants such as durian or rubber trees grow more quickly before reaching fruiting age.
The company has tested the biostimulant on around 15 to 20 crops, but most of their current commercial customers – about 90 percent – come from the palm oil industry.
“Between Indonesia and Malaysia, there are 20 million hectares of palm oil. And if we can make their practice more sustainable, why not,” said Ayuningtyas.
Unlike biostimulant producers in temperate countries, which tend to focus on crops such as wheat, corn or horticultural produce, Birufinery’s products are designed specifically for tropical plantation crops.
“Many cold‑water seaweed‑based biostimulants from Europe, Canada and the US are not designed for commercial crops in tropical regions. They tend to focus on horticulture or staple crops like wheat and corn. Our product is specifically developed for palm oil and other major tropical plantation crops,” said Ayuningtyas.
Market adoption requires ongoing education, as seaweed biostimulants remain unfamiliar to many large plantations in Indonesia and South East Asia.
Regulatory frameworks are also still maturing, though they are easier to navigate than those associated with organic fertiliser.
The company’s does not position its biostimulants as a replacement for chemical fertilisers but as a way to enhance nutrient uptake, making adoption less contentious among both smallholders who often rely on subsidised fertiliser, and large plantations that tend to prioritise reliable yield performance.
Next stages
Birufinery operates a vertically integrated supply chain to ensure consistent quality and volume of raw material.
The company runs its own seaweed farm and works directly with smallholder farmers in eastern Indonesia, an area known for high‑quality seaweed and underserved coastal communities.
It currently works with about 100 farmers but aims to scale this to 1,200 over the next three to five years, creating both supply security and meaningful livelihood improvements.
“We work primarily in eastern Indonesia, where we have access to the highest‑quality seaweed because the waters are still pristine. We also work in coastal communities where incomes are low and families are often marginalised, so when we come in, we can create a significant increase in their household income,” said Ayuningtyas.
Over the next 12 months, Birufinery plans to broaden its crop portfolio beyond palm oil, expand into neighbouring markets, introduce new products such as soil bioremediators, and scale seaweed farming capacity to support growing demand from both its biostimulant production and external seaweed processing industries.
Future sector expansion may include forestry and horticulture.
It has been able to advance with the recent investment from venture builder Terratai through Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
Ayuningtyas said the support has strengthened its credibility among investors and customers by validating both its commercial scalability and its social and environmental impact.
It has also enabled its move from small‑scale production to a full factory setup, allowing it to meet rising demand more effectively.
