All posts filed under: Series D

Shan Kadavil of FreshToHome makes perfect catch

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?

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 …

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

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

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

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 …