FreshToHome, a Bengaluru-based online fresh fish and meat retailer, has brought $121 million up in Series C funding led by Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), the principal investment arm of the Government of Dubai.
Investcorp, Ascent Capital, The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Allana additionally partook in the round with huge follow-on investment of $19 million from Series B lead investor Iron Pillar.
“We are just beginning to scratch the surface of a very large market and the current capital raise will help us realize our full potential through rapid expansion in India and the Middle East,” said Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder and CEO of FreshToHome.
The organization claimed that this is the biggest Series C funding in Indian purchaser tech start-ups.
FreshToHome legitimately sources fish and meat from the fishermen and farmers with its patent-pending AI-powered supply chain technology, supported by a cold chain that helps in eliminating the middleman and diminishing the supply chain to 24-36 hours. Farmers and fishermen offer for their most recent yields electronically on the organization’s application and this permits them to cut the middlemen, have better control over the quality of the things, and decrease the costs.
The new food start-up detailed development helped by the pandemic as purchasers made the habit-forming shift to e-commerce, backed by the brand guarantee of “100% Fresh and 0% Chemicals”.
Other fresh food start-ups like Licious likewise considered a to be in development as shoppers settled on high and more secure quality of meat or fish. “Covid-19 has been a defining moment for the sector as consumers look for safer way of buying fish or meat, and freshness in perishables.” FreshToHome’s Its foundation was additionally instrumental in helping a great many fishermen and ranchers sell their produce during this emergency. It at present has 1500 fishermen on its foundation and sells across Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and in the UAE.
FreshToHome right now measures 15 Lakh orders for every month on its site and application and has an annualized run pace of ₹600 crore.
“We are targeting $200 million sales in 2021 while maintaining current EBITDA profitability in mature cities through deeper supply chain integration on the platform,” added Kadvil.
“‘FreshToHome’s unique collaborative approach with fishermen, farmers, and use of tech-based solutions on procurement give them an edge in emerging as the best reliable brand in the segment and a potential contender for the Unicorn Club,” said Raja Kumar, founder and CEO, Ascent Capital.
This is additionally the first occasion when that US-based DFC has invested in India.
“DFC’s first equity deal with FreshToHome demonstrates the power of our new equity tool to drive development and advance US foreign policy,” said DFC CEO Adam Boehler.
Backing from its current huge West Asia-based investors, for example, CE-Ventures – the corporate funding foundation of Crescent Enterprises, altogether helped in supporting its extension in the UAE, where it is now one of the main 5 e-grocers.
As indicated by Euromonitor International, the customer market size of fish and meat section in India in 2019 was $94 billion and will keep on developing quickly.
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