India, 5th September 2023: Captain Fresh, India’s leading B2B fish and seafood company, announces a $20 million capital boost as part of a continuing funding round. This investment is led by Japan- based SBI Investment and Evolvence Capital, complemented by continued backing from internal investors including Accel, Matrix Partners India, Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global. Captain Fresh also counts Ankur Capital and Incubate Fund among its backers. Elluminate Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Captain Fresh on the transaction.
The fresh capital will be purposed towards Captain Fresh’s global aspirations, particularly focusing on Europe and the USA. Discussions are already in motion with potential allies in these markets.
Founder Utham Gowda, reflecting on this funding remarked, “We stand at a transformative juncture in our aim to establish Captain Fresh on the global stage. Over the past three years, we’ve built significant supply side capacity by establishing a robust network connecting us directly to Indian coastal fishermen and farmers. This is in addition to developing deep partnerships with more than a dozen export focused factories. Although we handle over 80,000 MT of seafood annually, it’s merely scratching the surface of our potential. Our platform is primed to optimize every investment dollar, especially in high-margin markets like Europe and the US.”
Aligning with their global ambitions, Captain Fresh welcomes Basola Valles as CEO – Europe, catalyzing the firm’s expansion initiatives within the pivotal market. Valles shared, “Europe is a vast, complex, and fragmented seafood market, there is an opportunity to upgrade the average efficiency at which demand is served, I cannot be more excited to work in this challenge. We will bring Captain Fresh’s improved and still improving tech enabled sourcing capabilities to Europe, delivering a multi species, multi origin approach to distribution. We aim to reduce turnaround times, invest in product innovation, and deliver on transparency and traceability needs. We will initially focus on selected European countries in partnership with local players, providing them the sourcing capabilities, tools, and resources to grow their business and serve their clients even better.”
At present, the Indian Ocean Region accounts for the entirety of the platform’s supply, with India constituting 90% of this. In terms of demand, Europe, the US, and India each contribute roughly equal shares, with the remaining demand stemming from South East Asia. Captain Fresh’s diverse product range encompasses over 100 varieties of fish and seafood, catering to clients in more than 30 countries worldwide. With operational offices in India, the US, Dubai, and Madrid, Captain Fresh now plans to expand across Europe.
Yoshitaka Kitao, Chairman and CEO of SBI Investment, said, “As the vertical leader and technology driven company, Captain Fresh is revolutionizing the B2B seafood marketplace and supply chain. We believe in the management’s vision”.
Rohit Batra, Managing Partner at Evolvence India, commented on the fundraise, “We are excited to deepen our partnership with Captain Fresh and support in their journey to reshape the complex supply-chain in the seafood industry globally. They have successfully consolidated a highly fragmented and unorganized industry and have built a robust demand network while demonstrating impressive execution and attractive unit economics.”
Captain Fresh has been at the forefront of integrating modern technological advancements into the age-old fisheries industry. By integrating technology across key facets of the value chain – from procurement and processing to distribution and retail – Captain Fresh is revolutionizing the sector, harmonizing people, processes, and technology.
