Captain Fresh revenue crosses Rs 5,000 Cr in FY26; co targets Rs 10,000 Cr in FY27

Packaged seafood company Captain Fresh has recorded a 52% year-on-year rise in revenue at Rs 5,169 crore for FY26. It aims to double its revenue in FY27.

The company also remained PAT (profit after tax) positive for the second consecutive year, it said in a statement.

Captain Fresh's adjusted earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for FY26 was Rs 371 crore, a 173% growth over the previous year. Gross margin expanded by 6.5 percentage points to 23.5% from 17% a year ago.

“FY26 stress tested the industry in the form of tariffs and an unsettled trade environment, and we came out stronger than we went in. ROCE (Return on capital employed) has moved from 9% to 11%, and we are targeting north of 20% in FY27. On leverage, our debt-to-equity ratio is currently 1.6, which is conservative for a business that has grown at 80% CAGR over the last three years,” said Mathew George, Group CFO and Whole-time Director, Captain Fresh.

The Bengaluru-headquartered global company was founded in 2020 by Utham Gowda and is backed by Accel, Tiger Global, and Prosus Ventures. Captain Fresh operates a house of seafood brands across Europe and North America. Its European processing footprint spans Frime in Spain, Koral in Poland, Senecrus in France, and CFT in Denmark through a joint venture. In Europe, the focus is on ready-to-eat formats, while in North America, the company distributes through CenSea, Ocean Garden, and Ocean Edge, primarily in the ready-to-cook formats across food-service channels.

“Seafood remains what it always was: too many origins, too many species, too many formats. It is simply too complex for a single-line business to hold together, and just as messy an experience for the customer,” said Utham Gowda, CMD and Group CEO, Captain Fresh.

He continued, “Our answer has been a house of premium brands, each a leader in its own lane and each still run by the operators who built it. The Captain Fresh platform is the connecting tissue: shared sourcing and commercial infrastructure that makes each brand worth more inside the group than outside it."

Captain Fresh sources from more than 30 countries across three oceans.

On its next phase of growth, Gowda said, “We serve nearly 2,500 customers, including more than 50 of the largest seafood buyers in the world, with some spending $2 to $3 billion a year on the category. We hold a fraction of that. Growing our wallet share, species by species and format by format, is the whole plan."

He added, "Margin expansion was the FY26 priority, and every step further into ready-to-eat takes it further. We delivered Rs 1 crore of EBITDA a day through FY26 and are close to ₹2 crore a day today."

The company said it is on track for a revenue of Rs 10,000 crore ($1.1 billion) in FY27. Its main focus for the year ahead is scaling what it already owns.