Matrix backed Captain Fresh raises $50 MM in Series C investment from Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global

07 Mar 2022, Bengaluru: Captain Fresh, a tech-enabled B2B animal protein marketplace announced today that it has raised US$50M in a Series C investment round co-led by Prosus Ventures and Tiger Global, both existing investors. Other participants in this round also included existing investors Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital, and Incubate Fund.

Captain Fresh started out in 2019 as a seafood marketplace focusing on aggregating the fragmented retail demand across the country and linking it to the small fishermen and farmers throughout the Indian coast. The company's vision has now expanded to build a sizeable animal protein platform with a play across multi-channel, multi-geography, multi-specie and multi-format retail (fresh/frozen/live).

Utham Gowda, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Captain Fresh, spoke about securing the new investment, "We have made significant strides in the last 12 months and believe we have the foundation in place to keep up with our hyper-growth trajectory. We are further deepening our role on the supply side by leveraging our understanding of supply communities in India and transforming it into a digital platform with a focus on content, community and commerce for fishermen, agents and farmers. This would be our market-entry beachhead as we look to foray into Africa, Middle East and other parts of Asia, led by our proprietary distribution and fulfilment engines.'

Captain Fresh continues to extend leadership on the demand side with value propositions for different types of retailer persona ranging from digitally native platforms, retail stores and hawkers, across Tier-I, Tier-II and Tier-III markets. Its fulfilment engine dominates the market with best-in-class fill rates and on-time delivery across heterogenous demand segments. The current round marks the third fund raise in the last 12 months. The company has more than doubled its revenues since its Series B fundraise in December 2021.

Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments, India, Prosus Ventures, said, "We invested behind the platform potential of Captain Fresh and are pleased with the rapid strides they have made on this front. On the supply side, from a seafood marketplace, they are now entering into the larger animal protein industry. On the demand side as well, they have expanded their focus by adding new export markets. All this is enabled by the same underlying tech infrastructure highlighting the platform potential. Captain Fresh continues to execute very well and at a rapid pace. We are delighted to support their mission and partner in their growth.'

John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global, said, "We are thrilled by the growth demonstrated by Captain Fresh over the last 12 months. We are excited to double down and deepen our partnership as the Company looks to go global.'

"Since we first invested the company has grown over 7x in a short timeframe while expanding their supply to include other animal proteins and also entering the export market. We are delighted to deepen our partnership and we expect the business to continue scaling rapidly.', echoed Barath and Rachit from Accel.

"Captain Fresh is disrupting the $400 billion global fresh fish, seafood & animal protein market by creating a tech-enabled B2B supply chain that delivers better quality at competitive prices. Captain Fresh has grown exponentially over the last 12 months and we are excited to be deepening our partnership with Utham, and to continue partnering with him on the journey ahead" said Sudipto Sannigrahi, Principal, Matrix India.

Elluminate Capital and DSK Legal acted as the exclusive financial and legal advisors to Captain Fresh on the transaction.

Founded in 2019 by Utham Gowda, Captain Fresh has rapidly emerged as a preferred monetization partner for supplier communities across the Indian coast. This has been made possible by a tech-enabled distribution network that spans across 20+ cities and more than 2,500 retail businesses. Captain Fresh has become a reliable alternative to the wholesale wet markets in these cities for suppliers and B2B customers. It is leveraging deep technologies to lessen the high amount of friction in the traditional trade and optimize the value accrued to the supply communities. It leverages its bid engine, proprietary quality inspection and satellite technology ensuring match-making of demand and supply.

About Captain Fresh:
Captain Fresh is a farm to retail platform for animal protein--fish, seafood and sheep. It procures directly from the agents/farmers, and supplies across B2B, B2R and B2B2C channels, providing superior quality fishes and other animal protein at competitive pricing compared to unorganised channels. Further information is available at https://www.captainfresh.in/. You can get in touch with the team at hello@captainfresh.in

About Prosus:
Prosus is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Operating and investing globally in markets with long-term growth potential, Prosus builds leading consumer internet companies that empower people and enrich communities.'¯The group is focused on building meaningful businesses in the online classifieds, food delivery, payments and fintech, and education technology sectors. Through the Prosus Ventures team, the group invests in new technology growth opportunities within logistics, fintech, health, blockchain, social and ecommerce platforms, agriculture and more. The team actively backs exceptional entrepreneurs who are using technology to improve people's everyday lives.

Each month, more than 2 billion customers across the globe use the products and services of'¯companies that'¯Prosus'¯has invested in, acquired or built.'¯To find out more, please visit www.prosus.com.

About Matrix Partners:
Matrix Partners India is an investment firm with approximately $1 billion under management. Founded in 2006, the firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early and early growth stages. Matrix India has invested in several category leading B2B companies such as OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, fintech), LoadShare (tech-enabled logistics network), FarMart (SAAS enabled marketplace for agri outputs), Bijnis (B2B fashion & footwear marketplace), Vegrow (B2B marketplace for fruits), and Saveo (B2B e-commerce marketplace for pharmacies).

Other marquee investments include Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Razorpay (payments), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing platform), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), DealShare (social commerce platform), Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), Mswipe (mobile POS), GoKwik (e-commerce enablement platform), and Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India, with approximately $5 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in. To know more about our investment philosophy & ideologies, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series.