Captain Fresh seeks to disrupt $450 bn seafood market with technology

Following a strong financial performance, Captain Fresh is gearing up for its initial public offering (IPO) by the end of this year and is targeting revenue of $2 billion over the next two years

Utham Gowda, the founder and Group CEO of Captain Fresh, a B2B seafood company, spends nearly 200 days a year living out of a suitcase, constantly on the move. His travels take him to coastal cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Miami, Dubai, San Diego, and Oslo — all locations where Captain Fresh has established offices.

 

"I don’t personally catch fish, but all our offices are located in beautiful coastal cities like Bergen in Norway, Amsterdam, and Manila in Philippines," said Gowda. "The seafood trade requires a presence in these coastal locations. Yes, traveling can be taxing, but it's absolutely worth it."

 

Gowda is leading Captain Fresh as it transforms the global seafood supply chain through the use of proprietary technology. He said the company is tapping a market worth about $450 billion globally.

 

“It's a very large  and fragmented category and there are no real large players in this industry,” said Gowda. “We have just scratched the surface.”

 

Under his leadership, the company has quickly grown into a multi-species, multi-origin seafood conglomerate, gaining recognition for its innovative technological approach.

 

Bengaluru-based Captain Fresh’s brand portfolio includes CenSea in the US, SuperFish in Poland, and Senecrus in France.It supplies various fish and seafood products including shrimp, salmon, tuna, fish, cephalopods and crab and lobster.

 

IPO ambitions

 

The company is experiencing robust growth and plans to close the current fiscal year with a profitable bottomline and revenue between $500-$550 million, marking a five-fold increase in the past two years. Looking ahead, Captain Fresh is targeting a revenue of approximately $2 billion within two years.

 

“We have been PAT profitable for the last two quarters,” said Gowda.

 

Captain Fresh’s gross revenue (GMV) increased by 71 per cent to Rs 1,395 crore ($168 million) in FY24 from Rs 817 crore ($104 million) in FY23. Its net losses reduced by 22 per cent to Rs 229 crore in FY24 from Rs 294 crore in FY23.

 

Following a strong financial performance, Captain Fresh is now gearing up for its initial public offering (IPO) by the end of this year. It recently raised Rs 100 crore from Motilal Oswal Group, likely as part of its pre-IPO funding round.

 

The brand is also focused on strengthening its leadership team in preparation of its upcoming IPO. Over the past nine months, it has made key appointments, including Mathew George as Group CFO, Jayant Prakash as vice president of legal and compliance, and Rupali Gupta as Group CHRO.

 

Gowda, who comes from a humble background with no familial connections to fishing or the ocean, founded Captain Fresh in 2020. Prior to this, he held prominent roles, including executive vice president at Nekkanti Sea Foods Ltd., and associate vice president at o3 Capital.

 

"As an outsider, I recognized a gap in the seafood market — specifically, the lack of attention from major stakeholders like investors, talent, and companies aiming to go global. This trend was already taking shape in other markets,” said Gowda, when asked about the trigger to start the firm.

 

Captain Fresh has a strong presence across multiple global regions. About 60 per cent of its sales come from the US, while Europe accounts for about 30 per cent. The remaining sales are driven by the Middle East and other international markets. The firm has over 400 employees, with about 50 per cent based outside India.

 

Digital-first

 

Gowda explained that what sets the company apart from traditional players is its asset-light business model. Unlike others, it doesn’t own factories, vessels, or farms globally. Instead, it has developed a technology-driven operating system that integrates all these elements into a unified platform.

 

"We leverage a lot of technology tools that enable us to control various operations, including those in factories globally, from our nerve centre in Bengaluru. This approach allows us to scale in a non-linear way," said Gowda, an alumnus of National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal, and the SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR).

 

With the ability to monitor and influence key decisions in the factories, Captain Fresh can control critical aspects of production, allowing it to actively participate in the manufacturing segment of the value chain.

 

"For us, activating a factory in the Philippines requires essentially the same effort as activating one in Thoothukudi, India," he said.

 

What has also helped is being a multi-species and multi-origin player and having a direct relationship with retailers and food service distributors. This allows it to communicate its value proposition in a better manner.

 

The company has secured backing from top investors, including Accel, Prosus,  Z47 (Matrix Partners) and Tiger Global Management. It has raised a total of $177 million in funding, according to data platform Tracxn. Captain Fresh’s current valuation is approximately $490 million.

 

Barath Shankar Subramanian and Abhinav Chaturvedi, Partners at venture capital firm Accel, said that one of the themes that they are bullish about is India-to-global businesses. These are companies that leverage India’s position as a preferred sourcing and manufacturing destination due to the diversification of global supply chains.

 

“Over the past two years, Captain Fresh has expanded their supply base beyond India to regions in the Global South, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, parts of South America, and Northern Africa,” said Subramanian. “They are now catering to demand from the Global North, including the US and Europe, while retaining the supply chain efficiencies they developed in India.”

 

Captain Fresh’s transformative journey includes bold steps in 2024. This includes the acquisition of CenSea, a US-based shrimp importer and distributor valued at over $300 million, and the completion of its acquisition of Koral, a leading €100 million salmon processor in Poland. These strategic global acquisitions have significantly strengthened its presence in both the shrimp and salmon markets. This has also helped it expand its reach across multi-species and multi-origin offerings—something no other India-origin brand has achieved on this scale.

 

When asked about managing the complexities of dealing with different regulations, tariffs, and logistics in cross-border operations, Gowda was of the view that it's a challenge as well as an opportunity. Being a digital first and technology-driven company helps it to manoeuvre all the regulatory aspects in a very efficient manner compared to the traditional players.  

 

“These markets are moving towards higher accountability. They're demanding more transparency and traceability from the supply chains. All of this plays to our advantage as we are better prepared to service these requests,” he said.

 

The company has also developed a vertical software platform tailored to the seafood industry and bring in efficiency. This platform includes tools for various stakeholders, such as fishermen, farmers, processors and exporters who convert seafood into finished products, and distributors who deliver these products to customers. It also includes software tools for logistics, warehousing, and customer engagement at the retail level. This also contributes to improving the lives of local communities, including fishermen and farmers.

 

"For example, if a product is to be sold at a major retailer, they need assurance that the fish wasn’t caught in an IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) fishing area. This means the data and transparency we generate from the moment the fish is caught can be leveraged to enhance its monetization potential," said Gowda.