IPO-Bound Captain Fresh Seeks $100 Mn Fresh Funding

B2B seafood chain Captain Fresh is reportedly in discussions to raise $50-100 Mn in a fresh funding round. 

As per Mint, citing sources familiar with the matter, the round could value the Bengaluru-based company at $600-650 Mn.

The fundraise is expected to include both primary and secondary components. Existing backers such as Accel and Prosus are likely to participate, with term sheets issued by new investors as well. 

“The round will close in the coming months and may be a part of the company’s pre-IPO round,” a source told Mint.

Captain Fresh’s founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Utham Gowda declined to comment Inc42’s queries on the development.

A few weeks back, the company picked up Axis Capital and Bank of America for its planned initial public offering (IPO) next year.

Notably, the company is eyeing a valuation of $1.3-1.5 Bn for its public market listing.

At the start of this year, Inc42 exclusively reported that Captain Fresh raised nearly $7 Mn (INR 58 Cr) from British International Investment (BII) in February, resulting in around 1.45% stake for the UK financial body.

As per Inc42’s calculation, Captain Fresh had a pre-money valuation of around $500 Mn-$600 Mn, during the last round of funding.

The company also started the year with a funding of $13 Mn from Nekkanti Sea Foods, Shakti Finvest Pvt Ltd, among others.

Earlier this year, the seafood major was also planning to acquire Poland-based food and beverage manufacturing company Koral to expand its footprint in the European market.

Meanwhile, Captain Fresh also appointed Mathew George as its group CFO earlier this year. 

Founded in 2019 by Gowda, Captain Fresh is a farm-to-retail platform for fish, seafood and sheep. It procures directly from agents and farmers and supplies through B2B and B2B2C channels. 

However, the startup has reportedly discontinued its B2B operations in most of the cities, while its B2B2C operations are just restricted to a couple of cities in India.