Ace Seafoods Bazaar Pvt Ltd, which operates direct-to-consumer (D2C) seafood and meat brand Pescafresh, on Tuesday announced $2 million (around Rs 15 crore) capital raise from UK-based Elara India Opportunities Fund in a pre-Series A1 round.
The startup plans to use the fresh money to expand its footprint as well as to scale technology to boost customer experience.
It also eyes for tie-ups and expand brand’s reach.
"We are elated that Elara India has decided to partner with Pescafresh to scale the brand at a pan-India level and beyond. Their deep connections, networks, and access to intelligent capital will have a multiplier effect as the brand scales," said Sangram Sawant, Founder, Pescafresh.
"We are delighted that Elara has recognised the pioneering efforts by Pescafresh to develop the organised Seafood and Meat space. We aim to leverage our processing capacities and expand into newer tier 1 markets by the end of the current financial year,” added Sawant.
Founded in 2004 by Sawant, Pescafresh offers home delivery in temperature-controlled EPS boxes. It functions on the farm-to-fork business model.
The brand owns the entire back-end supply chain, including stringent cold chain control, procurement, processing and storage.
It is backed by investors such as Blume Ventures, and Rehan Yar Khan, managing partner at Orios Ventures.
At present, Pescafresh operates from Mumbai and it plans to start its operations in Pune, Delhi NCR and Bengaluru. It is expecting to launch 100 new products across the raw and ready-to-eat segments.
Elara India Opportunities Fund is a subsidiary of the UK-based Elara Capital PLC and was specifically founded to back promising companies in India. Being sector-agnostic, Elara Fund has invested in several ventures that are built on domestic consumption.
J.R. Laddha Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. advised the company and acted as a transaction support partner.