FreshToHome, the India-based e-commerce platform that specialises in fresh vegetables, fish and meat, announced on Tuesday it has raised $121 million capital from Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), Investcorp of Bahrain, Mumbai-based Allana group and Development Finance Institution, an investment arm of the US government.
Ascent Capital and Iron Pillar, an existing investor of the Bangalore-based e-commerce venture, has also participated in the current round of C-series funding.
Arabian Business reported earlier this month that FreshToHome was in an advanced stage of negotiations with these funds.
The company has a major presence in the UAE market.
FreshToHome co-founder and CEO Shan Kadavil (pictured below) told Arabian Business that a significant part of the freshly raised capital will be used for funding the company’s ambitious growth plans in the GCC market.
The e-commerce venture, which is rated as the fifth largest e-grocer in the UAE, is set to expand its operations to Saudi Arabia soon, he said.
“Support from our existing large Middle East-based investors such as CE-Ventures – the corporate venture capital platform of Crescent Enterprises, has significantly helped us in aiding our expansion in the UAE,” Shan said.
“At ICD, we seek to partner with companies like FreshToHome that are able to break new ground for the greater good while also enjoying a large shareholder value creation opportunity,” said Khalifa Al Daboos, deputy CEO of Investment Corporation of Dubai.
“FreshToHome is a leader in leveraging AI-based technology and business innovation to bring a superior value proposition to customers and suppliers in a large and important market,” Daboos said.
FreshToHome said its daily order numbers in the UAE market has increased by more than 80 percent since March. Its average value per order has also increased significantly by 75 percent from AED53 pre-Covid to AED93.
The company added that its operations were also instrumental in helping thousands of fishermen and farmers sell their produce during this crisis.
FreshToHome is the world’s largest fully integrated online brand in fresh fish and meat e-commerce, with approximately 1.5 million B2C orders per month and $85 million annualised sales run rate on the platform.
The company enables its marketplace sellers to source and sell high-quality meat and fish directly from livestock farmers and fishermen in most major Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and in the UAE.
Shan Kadavil and other co-founders of FreshToHome have a Silicon Valley entrepreneurship background, having been part of leadership teams of companies such as Zynga.
Some of the early backers of FreshToHome include Mark Pincus, Zynga founder, David Krane, CEO of Google Ventures, Pete Briger, chairman of Fortress, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair, chairman of Mashreq Bank and RajanAnandan of Sequoia.
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