Former Zynga honcho Shan Kadavil’s Fresh Fish and Meat Startup Raises $104 Million Funding

Fresh fish and meat e-commerce platform FreshToHome has raised $104 million in Series D funding with Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund leading the round.

"We are now a 'Proficorn' with operational profitability across the company. As we strive to offer more value to our farmers and fishers, customers, employees and investors, our focus is on profitability and sustainable value creation," said Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-founder, FreshToHome. Proficorn is a term that describes a company which is profitable, private, promoter-driven and with good valuation.

FreshtoFarm was launched in 2015. Before launching Freshto Farm, Shan was the Country Manager, India at Zynga, the largest social gaming company on the web.

According to his Linkedin profile, “Shan started his career in Zynga as one of the early members of the team building out and running games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars, Fishville, Cityville and the like. Shan was also responsible for building the first and largest center outside the US for Zynga.”

Existing investors Iron Pillar, Investcorp, Investment Corporation of Dubai (the principal investment arm of the Government of Dubai), Ascent Capital and others also participated in the latest round of funding.

The funds will strengthen FreshToHome's mission to make 100 per cent preservative and antibiotic-residue free fish, seafood, and meat accessible and affordable to millions of meat lovers"


New investors joining this round include E20 Investment Ltd, Mount Judi Ventures and Dallah Albaraka.

Launched in 2015, FreshToHome operates in more than 160 cities in India and the UAE and offers more than 2,000 certified fresh and chemical-free products.

"Our vision with the $250 million Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund is to empower the next generation of innovative, technology enabled companies led by visionary founders," said its spokesperson.


"We are excited to partner with FreshToHome for the next phase of its growth," the spokesperson added.

Two years ago, FreshToHome raised $121 million in its Series C round, led by Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai, Investcorp, IronPillar, Ascent Capital a'd US Government's development finance institution -- DFC.

FreshToHome said that on a company-wide basis, it is now operationally profitable. - TWL Bureau with inputs from IANS