Exclusive: Motilal Oswal invests Rs 100 Cr in Captain Fresh

B2B seafood startup Captain Fresh has secured Rs 100 crore (approximately $12 million) in funding from Motilal Oswal Wealth Limited. This marks the second investment round for the Bengaluru-based firm this year.

The board at Captain Fresh has passed a special resolution to issue 1,002 preference shares at an issue price of Rs 9,98,399 each to raise Rs 100 crore or $12 million, its regulatory filing accessed from the Registrar of Companies (RoC)shows. 

The new funding appears to be part of a pre-IPO round. According to media reports, the company has appointed Axis Capital and BofA as bankers for a proposed IPO worth $350-400 million.

The funding came 10 months after the closure of its $48 million led by Japan-based SBI Investment, Evolvence Capital, UK-based British International Investment, and Nekkanti Seafoods Group with the participation of Matrix Partners, Ankur Capital, Prosus, and Tiger Global.

Captain Fresh has undergone restructuring by issuing preference shares of its Indian arm to the shareholders of its Norway entity. As part of this move, the company allocated 2,355 preference shares worth Rs 235 crore ($28 million) to investors, including GRWC Holdings, Futura Simul Fundacja, Nathon G Torch, and Jeffery Stern, as consideration other than cash, according to a separate resolution.

After this investment, Motilal Oswal will hold a 2.26% stake in Captain Fresh. As per startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the firm has been valued at around Rs 4,424 crore or $526 million post-allotment.

Five-year-old Captain Fresh’s product portfolio encompasses over 100 species of fish and seafood, sourced from over a dozen countries globally and catering to customers in more than 30 countries. Captain Fresh has offices in India, the US, Dubai,  Paris, Oslo, Amsterdam, and Madrid.

Captain Fresh has been on an acquisition spree in the ongoing calendar year, acquiring three companies: Paris-based shrimp cooker and distributor Senecrus, US-based CenSea, and Poland-based Koral.

The Tiger Global-backed company has yet to file its annual results for FY24. In FY23, it achieved a 4-fold year-on-year growth, with revenue rising to Rs 817 crore from Rs 208 crore in FY22. However, this aggressive growth came at a cost, as losses surged 2.8X to Rs 296 crore during the same period.

Motilal Oswal recently led a $350 million funding round for the quick commerce platform Zepto and participated in Zomato’s $1 billion fundraising through a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), acquiring over 20% of the total issue.