IPO-bound Captain Fresh reports Rs 1,300 Cr GMV in FY24

B2B seafood startup Captain Fresh is preparing for its initial public offering (IPO) and recently secured Rs 100 crore from Motilal Oswal Group, which seems to be part of its pre-IPO funding. The investment follows a solid financial performance by the Bengaluru-based company in the previous fiscal year, the firm managed to control its losses.

Captain Fresh’s gross revenue (GMV) increased by 71% to Rs 1,395 crore in FY24 from Rs 817 crore in FY23, according to its consolidated financial statement sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Captain Fresh is a business-to-business seafood marketplace with a farm-to-retail platform for animal protein–fish and seafood. The startup procures directly from the agents or farmers, and supplies across B2B, B2R and B2B2C channels. It leverages its bid engine, proprietary quality inspection and satellite technology ensuring match-making of demand and supply.

The surge in revenue was primarily driven by the sale of products, which contributed Rs 1,385 crore. This represents 99.28% of the total operating revenue. Other operating revenue and sale of services added Rs 8.7 crore and Rs 1.3 crore, respectively.

The company made additional Rs 27 crore from interest income which pushed its total revenue to Rs 1422 crore in FY24.

On the expenses front, cost of materials emerged as the largest expense, escalating by 72.5% to Rs 1,311 crore and accounting for 79.55% of the total expenses. Employee benefit expenses saw a significant decline of 32.45%, reducing to Rs 81.6 crore, while legal charges increased by 30.56% to Rs 47 crore. Transportation costs dropped by 24% to Rs 38 crore, and other expenses remained relatively stable at Rs 170.4 crore.

Overall, total costs grew by 44.82% to Rs 1,648 crore in FY24 from Rs 1,138 crore in FY23. 

Captain Fresh’s net loss reduced by 22% to Rs 229 crore in FY24 from Rs 294 crore in FY23. Its ROCE and EBITDA Margin stood at -22.95% and -12.10% respectively. On a unit level, the company spent Rs 1.18 to earn a rupee of operating revenue in FY24. 

The company had a current asset worth Rs 1,804 crore including Rs 148 crore of cash and bank balance in the previous fiscal.

According to TheKredible, Captain Fresh has raised a total funding of $176 million till date, having Matrix Partners, Tiger Global, Accel, Prosus and Ankur Capital as its lead investors. Last year, it also took over three companies: Paris-based shrimp cooker and distributor Senecrus, US-based CenSea, and Poland-based Koral.The new funding appears to be part of a pre-IPO round.

As per media reports, the company has appointed Axis Capital and BofA as bankers for a proposed IPO worth $350-400 million.

While the Rs 229 crore losses can be attributed to the string of acquisitions and related costs (especially legal costs), Captain Fresh seems to be working to a plan. The biggest risk of course  remains the main commodity in this case, seafood itself, which has a high susceptibility to supply side shocks due to natural as well as unnatural events like disease outbreaks etc. However, the broader trends remain in favour of the business as well as Captain Fresh’s own prospects, as demand  remains steady with an upward bias. The US and  European buys should also support margins besides providing better access for products sourced in India, beyond better credibility in India itself. One can see what investors liked about the firm, and it remains to be seen if 2025 is when the early signs, including profitability at EBITDA or even net profits, become visible. 

Update: The previous version of the story incorrectly stated that Captain Fresh experienced a 4.4x increase in its losses. In reality, the losses were reduced by 22%. We have updated the headline and story accordingly and regret the error.