All posts filed under: News

Shan Kadavil of FreshToHome makes perfect catch

Researching for an interview with FreshtoHome CEO and Co-Founder Shahnawaz Kadavil is a bit like preparing for a story on actor Shah Rukh Khan. What does one ask someone when nearly every aspect of their professional success has been covered by the media? So, we talked about fishing, a childhood interest. Kadavil, the 45-year-old chief operating officer and co-founder of the Bengaluru-based omnichannel grocery platform FreshToHome, frequently goes line fishing for tuna: “The bigger, the tastier.” Fat content, he says, determines the flavour. He takes off on a boat with fishermen, about 13 nautical miles into the Arabian Sea. To understand the waters, his companions study the stars. FreshToHome sources catch from about 3,000 fishermen across 300 harbours in coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and other states. While fish is central to their business, poultry, mutton play a significant role too. Kadavil, a software engineer, was drawn to this field when his personal supply of fresh fish was threatened by the closure of the Kerala-based Sea To Home, the e-commerce platform he would source from. …

D2C Meat Startup FreshToHome Raises $104 Mn Funding To Build Omnichannel Presence

D2C meat and fish brand FreshToHome has raised $104 Mn in a Series D funding round led by Amazon Sambhav Venture Fund. The round also saw participation from E20 Investment, Mount Judi Ventures, as well as existing investors such as Investcorp, among others. FreshToHome will use the fresh funding to expand its presence in the domestic market, especially in the 100 cities that it entered over the last 18 months, as well as in Saudi Arabia, its cofounder and CEO Shan Kadavil told Inc42. Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-Founder, FreshtoHome <Read More>

Amazon backs Indian meat startup FreshToHome in $104 million funding

Indian startup FreshToHome, which sells fresh fish and meat to consumers in the South Asian market and the Middle East region, has courted a new backer: Amazon. Amazon, through its India-focused Smbhav Venture Fund, has led a $104 million Series D financing round in the Bengaluru-headquartered startup, the two companies said Tuesday. The new round for the startup, which also counts the development arm of the American government among its backers, also saw participation from the government of Dubai and Iron Pillar. This is the largest check that the $250 million Smbhav Venture Fund has written so far. The new round takes FreshToHome’s all-time raise to over $250 million. Started in 2015, FreshToHome is one of the largest players battling for a slice of the $100 billion Indian fish and meat market. Most Indians are not vegetarians, but the current market is run on an age-old system. FreshToHome is bringing efficiency to the market by streamlining the sourcing infrastructure of meat and fish and improving the quality of the produce and their delivery time by using its own rigorous …

FreshToHome Raises Series D Funding, Led By Amazon Smbhav

Direct-to-consumer meat delivery brand FreshToHome has closed $104 million (Rs 861.3 crore) in a Series D round led by Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund, a top executive told VCCircle. “The fresh capital would be used to deepen FreshToHome‘s presence in the 160 cities cities it currently operates in,” founder and chief executive Shan Kadavil said in a telephonic interaction. In a bid to focus on omnichannel going ahead, the meat deliverer is also looking to expand into Saudi Arabia, Kadavil added. Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-Founder, FreshtoHome <Read More>

FreshToHome to Invest Rs 1K crore in Telangana

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome Hyderabad: FreshToHome (FTH), the world’s largest fully integrated e-commerce platform for fresh fish, meat, and seafood, has announced fresh investments in a phased outlay of up to Rs 1,000 crore in Telangana. In the next five years, FreshToHome will deploy funds to strengthen its presence across the state that has the largest percentage of meat consumers with more than 98% of its population consuming non-veg. Studies reveal that the average per capita consumption of non-veg is 1.4 kilos per month in Telangana. An investment-friendly hub, Telangana is one of the high traction customer bases in South India. In the last two quarters alone, FreshToHome has witnessed 6x growth in Hyderabad and has been successfully acquiring new customers month-on-month both at online and offline touchpoints. Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshToHome, said, “Telangana is one of the fastest-growing states in India, and is a huge potential market for FreshToHome. We will, directly and indirectly, invest in capabilities that will help us serve our customers in distribution, cold chain, and sourcing capabilities. Our recent growth in Telangana …

‘We will not participate in the 10-minute or 15-minute delivery race’

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome The online meat ordering and delivery market in India has been growing in leaps and bounds over the last few years, with the coronavirus pandemic giving the startups in the segment a major boost. D2C meat and seafood startup FreshToHome, which completed its last fundraising at the end of 2019 — the largest Series C fund-raise in Indian food tech — and is purportedly eyeing a Series D funding round at a post-money valuation of over $1 billion, has become rather aggressive in its expansion and communication drive in recent months. Shan Kadavil, co-founder, spoke to Alokananda Chakraborty about its recent moves. E-commerce players, especially those in the food business, are in a race to deliver orders as quickly as possible. You already have a 90-minute delivery option; can you go any faster? What sort of capabilities do you need to shorten the delivery window? We work with our partners to deliver in under 90 minutes, and 60 minutes in some regions, which we are certain is the optimal time to …

FreshToHome announces investments upto ₹1,000 crore in Telangana

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome Leading e-commerce platform for fresh fish, meat, and seafood — FreshToHome (FTH) — on 23 June announced fresh investments in a phased outlay of up to ₹1,000 crore in Telangana. The platform aims to deploy funds to strengthen its presence across the state that has the largest percentage of meat consumers with more than 98 per cent of its population consuming non-veg. As per study in Telangana, the average per capita consumption of non-veg is 1.4 kilos per month. In the last two quarters alone, FreshToHome has witnessed 6x growth in Hyderabad and has been successfully acquiring new customers month-on-month both at online and offline touchpoints. <Read More>

FreshToHome expects to clock revenues of ₹1,500-2,000 crore in FY23

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome Clocking in promising revenue growth last year, FreshToHome, a direct-to-customer meat and seafood start-up, expects to continue growing its revenue base in FY23. The company told BusinessLine that it expects to reach a turnover of ₹1,500-2,000 crore in FY23. “We are the largest company in this segment, both in terms of revenue as well as orders. Last year, our revenue figures stood at ₹1,200 crore, which we expect to reach ₹1,500-2,000 crore in FY23,” said Shan Kadavil, CEO and founder, FreshToHome. The company receives a total of 2.5 million orders every month, across all categories. Kadavil said that there are plans to expand both nationally and internationally. On a national front, the company is building itself as a retail major. <Read More>

Russia-Ukraine War: Geopolitical Tensions Do Not Have Any Impact On Indian Fish Imports

Mathew Joseph, COO, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome The Indian fisheries sector has witnessed dramatic growth in recent years, making India one of the largest producers of fish and fish products in the world. Currently, India is the third-largest fish-producing country in the world and accounts for 7.96 per cent of global production. According to the ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, government of India, “The fisheries sector has been recognized as the ‘Sunrise Sector’ and has demonstrated an outstanding double-digit average annual growth of 10.87 per cent since 2014-15.” In FY21, the total fish production in India was around 14.73 million tonne (MT) with a contribution of 11.25 MT from the inland sector and 3.48 MT from the marine sector. Statistically, India’s per capita consumption of fish and meat products stands around 4-7 kilograms per annum, while the global numbers are 20 kg per annum. <Read More>  

‘Surprising to see how quickly smaller cities have adapted to ordering meat online’: FreshToHome cofounder

Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshtoHome How far would you go to get your fish curry and rice right? Some like Shan Kadavil start their own company. Co-founder of FreshToHome, Kadavil started the meat and seafood e-commerce platform when his fish supplier shut shop. Since then, he’s promised to make fresh non-vegetarian ingredients available in every corner of the country. And now, he’s hungry to grow. In an exclusive chat with Storyboard18, Kadavil shares the company’s plans for expansion and reducing delivery time, focusing on ready-to-eat options, and roping in Ranveer Singh for a campaign. <Read More>