Author: Shwetha Satyanarayan

Shan Kadavil of FreshToHome makes perfect catch

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Researching for an interview with FreshtoHome CEO and Co-Founder Shahnawaz Kadavil is a bit like preparing for a story on actor Shah Rukh Khan. What does one ask someone when nearly every aspect of their professional success has been covered by the media? So, we talked about fishing, a childhood interest. Kadavil, the 45-year-old chief operating officer and co-founder of the Bengaluru-based omnichannel grocery platform FreshToHome, frequently goes line fishing for tuna: “The bigger, the tastier.” Fat content, he says, determines the flavour. He takes off on a boat with fishermen, about 13 nautical miles into the Arabian Sea. To understand the waters, his companions study the stars. FreshToHome sources catch from about 3,000 fishermen across 300 harbours in coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other states. While fish is central to their business, poultry, mutton play a significant role too. Kadavil, a software engineer, was drawn to this field when his personal supply of fresh fish was threatened by the closure of the Kerala-based Sea To Home, the e-commerce platform he would source from. …

How D2C Brand FreshToHome Cracked Product Market Fit In UAE To Reach INR 1,300 Cr ARR In 3 Years?

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Half way through 2019, FreshToHome’s cofounders Shan Kadavil and Mathew Joseph decided to expand their D2C fresh meat and seafood brand to the UAE. However, all their projections came to a staggering halt when they realised that cracking the code to the product-market fit in the region would not be as easy as they thought. Given that FreshToHome was a leader in their category in India, the cofounders got too optimistic that they could achieve the same success in the UAE within a span of just three months. On the contrary, it took more than a year before revenues started pouring in from the region. Now, almost after three years of cross-border operations, the company has already expanded to all seven emirates in the UAE. The Singapore-headquartered company also saw a two-fold rise in its revenues between CY20 and CY22. It earned a total revenue of INR 600 Cr in CY20, which grew to INR 1,100 Cr in CY22. It is currently running at an annual revenue run rate of INR 1,300 Cr for the …

Ex-UAE resident’s FreshToHome portal nets Amazon in $104m fund round, gets ready for Saudi Arabia

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

  Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-Founder, FreshtoHome  Dubai: FreshToHome, a direct-to-consumer portal selling fish and meat started by an ex-UAE resident, has hooked $104 million in its latest funding round, which is led by Amazon. Existing contributors such as Investment Corporation of Dubai, ADQ and Bahrain’s Investcorp added to their earlier stakes. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, the Dubai-based billionaire, had also been an investor in a previous round. The portal, which launched operations by sourcing fresh catch direct from fishermen in India, is operational in the UAE, including having two physical locations at Dubai Waterfront Market. With the $104 million, FreshToHome has raised more than $240 million, and sees the time as being right for major forays into Saudi Arabia and other markets. “Our business model will be direct-to-consumer, and for now we do not see any need to supply fresh supplies to third-parties such as supermarkets,” said Shan Kadavil, co-founder and CEO. (An alumni of Sharjah Indian High School, Kadavil had an extensive stint in Silicon Valley, including in gaming ventures, before launching FreshToHome …

FreshToHome closes $104 mn Series D funding with Amazon Smbhav VC, others

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-Founder, FreshtoHome FreshToHome, a platform that sells fresh fish and meat, has closed $104 million in Series D funding with Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund leading the round. New investors joining this round included E20 Investment Ltd., Mount Judi Ventures and Dallah Albaraka while 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 were also part of this round, said the company in a statement. 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 was the platform’s biggest USP,’‘ claimed Shan Kadavil, CEO & Co-founder, FreshToHome. “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,’‘ he added.

D2C Meat Startup FreshToHome Raises $104 Mn Funding To Build Omnichannel Presence

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

D2C meat and fish brand FreshToHome has raised $104 Mn in a Series D funding round led by Amazon Sambhav Venture Fund. The round also saw participation from E20 Investment, Mount Judi Ventures, as well as existing investors such as Investcorp, among others. FreshToHome will use the fresh funding to expand its presence in the domestic market, especially in the 100 cities that it entered over the last 18 months, as well as in Saudi Arabia, its cofounder and CEO Shan Kadavil told Inc42. Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-Founder, FreshtoHome <Read More>

Amazon backs Indian meat startup FreshToHome in $104 million funding

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Indian startup FreshToHome, which sells fresh fish and meat to consumers in the South Asian market and the Middle East region, has courted a new backer: Amazon. Amazon, through its India-focused Smbhav Venture Fund, has led a $104 million Series D financing round in the Bengaluru-headquartered startup, the two companies said Tuesday. The new round for the startup, which also counts the development arm of the American government among its backers, also saw participation from the government of Dubai and Iron Pillar. This is the largest check that the $250 million Smbhav Venture Fund has written so far. The new round takes FreshToHome’s all-time raise to over $250 million. Started in 2015, FreshToHome is one of the largest players battling for a slice of the $100 billion Indian fish and meat market. Most Indians are not vegetarians, but the current market is run on an age-old system. FreshToHome is bringing efficiency to the market by streamlining the sourcing infrastructure of meat and fish and improving the quality of the produce and their delivery time by using its own rigorous …

FreshToHome Raises Series D Funding, Led By Amazon Smbhav

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Direct-to-consumer meat delivery brand FreshToHome has closed $104 million (Rs 861.3 crore) in a Series D round led by Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, a top executive told VCCircle. “The fresh capital would be used to deepen FreshToHome‘s presence in the 160 cities cities it currently operates in,” founder and chief executive Shan Kadavil said in a telephonic interaction. In a bid to focus on omnichannel going ahead, the meat deliverer is also looking to expand into Saudi Arabia, Kadavil added. Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-Founder, FreshtoHome <Read More>

FreshToHome to Invest Rs 1K crore in Telangana

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome Hyderabad: FreshToHome (FTH), the world’s largest fully integrated e-commerce platform for fresh fish, meat, and seafood, has announced fresh investments in a phased outlay of up to Rs 1,000 crore in Telangana. In the next five years, FreshToHome will deploy funds to strengthen its presence across the state that has the largest percentage of meat consumers with more than 98% of its population consuming non-veg. Studies reveal that the average per capita consumption of non-veg is 1.4 kilos per month in Telangana. An investment-friendly hub, Telangana is one of the high traction customer bases in South India. In the last two quarters alone, FreshToHome has witnessed 6x growth in Hyderabad and has been successfully acquiring new customers month-on-month both at online and offline touchpoints. Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshToHome, said, “Telangana is one of the fastest-growing states in India, and is a huge potential market for FreshToHome. We will, directly and indirectly, invest in capabilities that will help us serve our customers in distribution, cold chain, and sourcing capabilities. Our recent growth in Telangana …

‘We will not participate in the 10-minute or 15-minute delivery race’

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome The online meat ordering and delivery market in India has been growing in leaps and bounds over the last few years, with the coronavirus pandemic giving the startups in the segment a major boost. D2C meat and seafood startup FreshToHome, which completed its last fundraising at the end of 2019 — the largest Series C fund-raise in Indian food tech — and is purportedly eyeing a Series D funding round at a post-money valuation of over $1 billion, has become rather aggressive in its expansion and communication drive in recent months. Shan Kadavil, co-founder, spoke to Alokananda Chakraborty about its recent moves. E-commerce players, especially those in the food business, are in a race to deliver orders as quickly as possible. You already have a 90-minute delivery option; can you go any faster? What sort of capabilities do you need to shorten the delivery window? We work with our partners to deliver in under 90 minutes, and 60 minutes in some regions, which we are certain is the optimal time to …

FreshToHome announces investments upto ₹1,000 crore in Telangana

Published by Shwetha Satyanarayan

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome Leading e-commerce platform for fresh fish, meat, and seafood — FreshToHome (FTH) — on 23 June announced fresh investments in a phased outlay of up to ₹1,000 crore in Telangana. The platform aims to deploy funds to strengthen its presence across the state that has the largest percentage of meat consumers with more than 98 per cent of its population consuming non-veg. As per study in Telangana, the average per capita consumption of non-veg is 1.4 kilos per month. In the last two quarters alone, FreshToHome has witnessed 6x growth in Hyderabad and has been successfully acquiring new customers month-on-month both at online and offline touchpoints. <Read More>