Exclusive: Captain Fresh Appoints Three Independent Directors Ahead Of IPO

B2B meat and seafood startup Captain Fresh has appointed three new independent directors to its board as it readies to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator SEBI for an initial public offering (IPO).

The board of Captain Fresh passed a resolution on April 25 to appoint Durgesh Kumar Singh, Anil Berera and Harita Gupta as independent directors of the company, its regulatory filings sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) showed.

Berera currently serves as an independent director at Whirlpool, while Gupta is the senior vice president and head of the APAC region at Sutherland, a global provider of digital transformation and customer experience solutions.

However, details about Singh could not be ascertained.

With the fresh appointments, Captain Fresh joins the likes of Avanse Financial Services, Zepto, Shadowfax and PhysicsWallah, among others, which have recently added independent directors to their boards to comply with the SEBI’s regulatory norms.

Earlier in May, Inc42 reported that education loan-focused NBFC Avanse brought on former Bajaj Finserv COO Rakesh Bhatt as an independent director ahead of its INR 3,500 Cr IPO.

Last month, quick commerce unicorn Zepto roped in Akhil Gupta, vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises, as an independent director. Prior to that, logistics startup Shadowfax and edtech startup PhysicsWallah each appointed three independent directors in February and March, respectively.

Captain Fresh To Raise INR 27 Cr From Centrum Wealth, Others

Ahead of its stock market listing, the B2B seafood marketplace is set to raise INR 27.3 Cr in an equity funding round led by Centrum Wealth Limited. The round will also see participation from several angel investors, including Kamal Puri, chairman of UAE-based Skyline International Group.

Captain Fresh plans to use the fresh funds to meet its capital expenditure requirements and expand its business, it said in a separate regulatory filing.

This comes on the heels of the startup’s INR 250 Cr pre-IPO funding round in January, which saw participation from Prosus, Accel, Tiger Global Management and the family office of Swiggy cofounder Sriharsha Majety, among others.

At the time, Utham Gowda, founder and group CEO of Captain Fresh, said the capital would strengthen the company’s balance sheet and serve as a “strong foundation for our upcoming IPO.”

Founded in 2020 by Gowda, Captain Fresh operates a B2B marketplace to supply meat and seafood to sellers across India and international markets such as the Middle East, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Europe and the US.

In January this year, Gowda told Inc42 that almost 98% of the startup’s demand came from outside India, adding that it was on track to clock a top line of $525-550 Mn in the fiscal year ended March 2025 (FY25).

While the Bengaluru-based startup is yet to disclose its FY25 results, it reported a 70% year-on-year increase in its revenue to INR 1,395 Cr and lowered its net loss by 29% YoY to INR 229 Cr in FY24.

Captain Fresh is expected to raise $350 Mn to $400 Mn (around INR 2,988 Cr to INR 3,415 Cr) via its public issue, which is likely to come by the end of the year. It is eyeing a valuation of over $1 Bn for its IPO, a 90% premium to its last known valuation of $526 Mn (around INR 4,424 Cr). If its listing plans fructify, it will become the first Indian B2B seafood company to go public. 

It is pertinent to note that Captain Fresh also operates in the B2C segment in India but currently does not serve seafood consumers in the US, Europe and other countries directly. However, Gowda said earlier that the company plans to enter the B2C segment in international markets as well, without specifying a timeline.