[Funding alert] Captain Fresh raises $3M led by Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital

Captain Fresh, the B2B marketplace for the seafood supply chain, has raised $3 million in seed capital led by Matrix Partners India and Ankur Capital. The round also saw participation from Incubate Fund, along with marquee investors like Jitendra Gupta (Jupiter Money), Amrish Rau (Pine Labs), Asish Mohapatra

(OfBusiness) and Revant Bhate (Mosaic Wellness), and ADB Ventures (the venture arm of Asian Development Bank).

With this infusion, Captain Fresh will continue to expand operations and invest deeper in its sourcing and distribution capabilities, building a world-class team, and invest in technology. Founded in 2019 by Utham Gowda, Captain Fresh works as a full-stack marketplace platform that leverages technology to deliver freshwater fishes and seafood to retailers across all formats.

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Utham Gowda, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Captain Fresh, said in a press statement, 

“We are digitally transforming the highly inefficient fresh fish and seafood supply chain in India by aggregating the fragmented retail demand across the country and linking them to the small fishermen and farmers throughout the Indian coast. We have witnessed 10x revenue growth in the last 18 months getting us closer to our $1 million per month milestone. We are particularly excited by our customers’ respect for us combined with the strong capital efficient and scalable business model we have been able to demonstrate in our early markets.” 

The platform delivers through a trusted seafood supply chain that relies on superior demand-supply matching, standardised supplies, and maintaining digital traceability systems in order to streamline operations and re-imagine the B2B seafood ecosystem.

The investment fund stated that Captain Fresh works with multiple brands and retailers in the general trade channel, modern trade channel, as well as with the pioneers in the online meat and seafood space.

Tarun Davda, Managing Director, Matrix India said, 

“Captain Fresh is organising the massive $30 billion-plus seafood supply chain in India with a simple promise — to provide better quality fish at more competitive prices compared to unorganised channels. As a result of their tech-driven approach and focus on reduction in wastage, they have seen rapid adoption across channels – from tech-first online brands to the more traditional general-trade retailers. We’re thrilled to be partnering with Utham and the team on this journey.”

Captain Fresh began operations in Bengaluru, and is currently serving more than 550 retail businesses across all formats; they have also recently expanded geographically with a presence in Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Mangalore, and Visakhapatnam.

Krishnan Neelakantan, Partner at Ankur Capital, said, “As a fund that believes that technology will unlock large markets around the next billion Indians, we are excited about the potential for Captain Fresh to transform the supply chain for the $30 billion domestic fresh fish and seafood market. In Utham and his team, we see a great combination of vision, domain insights and passion to champion this change and build a large, valuable company.”