[Funding alert] Online meat startup FreshToHome raises $121M in Series C led by IDC

FreshToHome, the Bengaluru-based online fish and meat ecommerce startup, raised $121 million in Series-C funding led by Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD).

Other investors, including Investcorp, Ascent Capital, DFC, and the Allana Group also participated in the round. Iron Pillar — the lead investor from the startup’s Series B round — also invested $19 million in the current round.

“COVID-19 transformed the fish and meat purchasing behaviour of consumers dramatically. Due to safety concerns, consumers made the habit-forming shift to ecommerce, and we saw online demand for our products going up many folds this year. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of a very large market, and the current capital raise will help us realise our full potential through rapid expansion in India and the Middle East,” said Shan Kadavil, Co-founder and CEO, FreshToHome. 

As estimated by Euromonitor International, the consumer market size of the fish and meat segment in India in 2019 was $94 billion.

Founded by Shan in 2015, FreshToHome is a fully-integrated ecommerce platform in the fresh fish and meat segment. The startup receives nearly 1.5 million (15 lakh) B2C orders per month and a Rs 600 annualised sales run-rate on the platform.

FreshToHome enables its marketplace sellers to source and sell high-quality meat and fish directly from livestock farmers and fishermen in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, as well as in the UAE. 

ALSO READ

[Funding alert] Treebo raises Rs 10 Cr from Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Rebel Foods' Jaydeep Barman, Deepak Parayanken

"FreshToHome is a leader in leveraging AI-based technology and business innovation to bring a superior value proposition to customers and suppliers in a large and important market. At ICD, we seek to partner with companies like FreshToHome that can break new ground for the greater good while also enjoying a large shareholder value creation opportunity,” said Khalifa Al Daboos, Deputy CEO, Investment Corporation of Dubai. 

Some of the early backers of FreshToHome include Mark Pincus (Founder of Zynga), David Krane (CEO of Google Ventures), Pete Briger (Chairman of Fortress), Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair (Chairman of Mashreq Bank), Rajan Anandan of Sequoia Capital India, and other renowned investors. 

Gaurav Sharma, Head of Private Equity, Investcorp India, said, “At Investcorp, we look at companies who redefine the category with proven top-line and bottom-line impact. We believe that FreshToHome fits this bill perfectly, and is poised to achieve significant scale.”