Indian ecommerce platform Amazon has recently moved into food and fresh categories in India as it expands its logistics infrastructure in the South Asian market. Yet, as a result of the worldwide market conditions, the American behemoth has withdrawn from various business lines in the country in recent months.
Now, FreshToHome, an Indian startup that offers fresh fish and meat to customers in South Asia and the Middle East, has secured $104M in Series D funding. Amazon has led the round through its India-focused Smbhav Venture Fund.
Existing investors in FreshToHome including Iron Pillar, Investcorp, Investment Corporation of Dubai (the principal investment arm of the Government of Dubai), Ascent Capital and others have also participated in this round. New investors joining this round include E20 Investment Ltd, Mount Judi Ventures and Dallah Albaraka. JP Morgan served as FreshToHome’s placement agent for the fundraise.
The funds will help FreshToHome’s objective of making 100% preservative- and antibiotic-residue-free fish, seafood and meat available and affordable to millions of meat lovers, the company said in a statement.
FreshToHome raised $121M in its Series C round two years ago, led by Dubai’s Investment Corporation of Dubai, Investcorp, IronPillar, Ascent Capital, and the United States Government’s development finance organisation – DFC.
Shan Kadavil, CEO & Co-founder, FreshToHome said, “We are excited to have Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund lead our Series D funding round. FreshToHome has pioneered the revolution of making 100% preservative and antibiotic-residue free fresh fish, seafood, meat and meat products accessible and affordable to all and that is our biggest USP. We are now a ‘Proficorn’ with operational profitability across the company. As we strive to offer more value to our farmers and fishers, customers, employees and investors, our focus is on profitability and sustainable value creation.”
Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, through its official spokesperson stated “Our vision with the $250M Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund is to empower the next generation of innovative, technology enabled companies led by visionary founders. We are impressed with the FreshToHome management team led by Shan Kadavil and they have done some quality work in creating a robust technology enabled supply chain and scalable backward integrated capabilities to serve both customers as well as farmers and fishers. We are excited to partner with FreshToHome for the next phase of its growth.”
FreshToHome, which was launched in 2015 by Shan Kadavil and Mathew Joseph, operates in over 160 locations across India and the UAE, offering over 2,000 certified fresh and chemical-free items.
FreshToHome now serves over 4,000 fishermen and farmers, as well as millions of customers, in over 160 locations across India and the UAE, and offers over 2,000 certified fresh and chemical-free items.
FreshToHome competes with Licious, BigBasket, and smaller startups such as ZappFresh, TenderCuts, as well as local offline players who reach customers through online apps such as Swiggy and Dunzo.
