In three months, Captain Fresh's valuation has doubled to $500 million as the Indian startup deepens its footprints in the local market and begins to expand overseas.
Captain Fresh's $50 million Series C funding was co-led by Prosus and Tiger Global, according to the company's founder and chief executive. The new round was participated in by existing investors.
The business-to-business marketplace for seafood, which has raised over $100 million to date and was valued at about $200 million in its Series B round disclosed in December, is in talks to top up as much as another $10 million in the new round, a person familiar with the matter said The startup's valuation and extension to the Series C round were not commented on by Gowda.
He spent years tracking the seafood industry. He helped one of the largest exporters in the sector when it was exploring to become public. The plan changed, but it helped him learn the ins-and-outs of the market.
He said that it is a very large sector but also very messy, and that it still drives consumption of billions of dollars each year.
Every other player in the industry has been trying to solve this from the brand perspective or from the end-customer perspective. The core problem is in organizing the supply.
The bet seems to be paying. Captain Fresh helps farmers and fishermen sell close to a hundred ton of fresh fish and over three dozen other seafood species each day. The startup has set up over 50 collection centers and is helping farmers sell to over 2,500 businesses in India.
The international business, which was started less than three months ago, is 20% of the overall business. Captain Fresh has become a customer of most big brands in India.
There is a lot of competition in the market for animal protein. Farmers buy the fish and other seafood through an auction and bring it to the wet markets. This approach has a lot of inefficiencies. Several players don't have the means to secure produce if the supply doesn't come on time.
Businesses can place an order to us, we confirm the order to them, and next day deliver the product, if we bring reliability. He said that they could spend all their time on marketing and sales of the product instead of worrying about procurement.
We are also trying to find a solution for quality. In our supply chain, we measure the quality by the number of touches the fish has had. The quality will be worse if it has more touches. He said that they were able to get the touch points to under five or four from the point the fish was caught to the point of sale, compared to over 25 to 30 touches in the traditional supply chain.
The shelf life of fish and other seafood can be extended by a day to a day and a half.
The startup is seeing similar opportunities in international markets, where the supply chain is rife with the same challenges.
Captain Fresh plans to use the fresh funds to expand to a few more countries, including some in Southeast Asia and Africa. He said that it is eyeing some acquisitions.
The startup is trying to help farmers sell more. Captain Fresh has advisories and content for these farmers on its app. If you are a fisherman, you can load up your inventory details on our platform and we will sell it on a real-time basis. He said that their fulfillment takes over.
The idea with the social commerce is to help fishermen and fisherwomen replicate the offline experience on the digital platform.
On the supply side, Captain Fresh is now entering into the larger animal protein industry, according to Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments for Prosus Venture in India.
They have expanded their focus by adding new export markets. The platform potential is highlighted by the underlying tech infrastructure. Captain Fresh is at a rapid pace. We are happy to support their growth.
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