Fresh fish and meat retailer FreshtoHome raises $20 million in Series B

The funds raised from Iron Pillar and internet entrepreneur Joe Hirao will be used to expand into other cities in India and the UAE

FreshToHome.com, an online fresh fish and meat retailer, has secured $20 million in a Series B funding round led by venture capital fund Iron Pillar with the participation of Joe Hirao, an internet entrepreneur and the founder of Japan-based ZIGExN. 

The Bengaluru-based firm will use the funding to expand into other cities in India and the UAE. The company will also use the funds to diversify their product offerings in various other fresh and chemical-free food categories, such as fruits and vegetables, cold-pressed oils, organic cow and buffalo milk, dairy products and organic staples. These products will eventually be distributed across e-commerce platforms, retail outlets and other channels across multiple geographies. The company will also invest in its supply chain process in other categories of food.

“We are just getting started and with a $250 billion market size in front of us in the perishables category alone in India - this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Shan Kadavil, chief executive of FreshToHome. “We recently crossed 14,000 orders a day. This reinforces our belief that if you give consumers safe to eat food at an honest price, you can create a brand loved by thousands.”

FreshToHome also announced that it crossed Rs 200 crore in annualized direct to consumer sales and this has made it the largest such venture in the fish and meat e-commerce space in India. It has also expanded to new cities such as Mumbai and Pune, and also ventured into the global market by launching its operations in UAE. The firm processes around 20 tons of fresh food produce every day.

FreshToHome currently has 650,000 customers across 9 cities in India and internationally across the UAE. The company said its commodities exchange platform, technology-enabled cold chain capability and supporting logistics capability, allows it to directly source from 1500 fishermen and farmers and deliver quickly to consumers. 

“FreshToHome’s brand proposition has been to provide 100 per cent fresh food with 0 per cent chemicals, not an easy thing to achieve in India on a large scale. They have thoughtfully created the largest and fastest perishable supply chain for fish and meat in India to make this happen,” said Anand Prasanna, managing partner of Iron Pillar. “By smartly using big data and machine learning, they have created a sustainable supply chain, which offers a fair price to consumers, fishermen and farmers, for their premium produce. This patent-pending, direct sourcing Commodities Exchange Platform is a game-changer in the industry and is very hard to replicate,” added Prasanna.