Zynga co-founder Pincus invests in Bengaluru venture

BENGALURU: Social game developer Zynga's co-founder Mark Pincus has invested in fish and meat e-tailer Freshto home, marking his debut in the Indian startup ecosystem.
The Bengaluru based startup has raised an angel round from other investors like Walter Kortschak, founder of early-stage VC fund Kortschak Investments that has invested in data analytics company Palantir, Peter Briger, co-chairman of New York-based investment management firm Fortress Investment Group, Timothy Flaherty , co-founder of Silver Creek Capital Management, former Zynga CTO Cadir Lee, Google India MD Rajan Anandan, former Zynga Studios president Alex Garden and former Softbank US director Pavan Ongole.

Freshtohome, co-founded by former Zynga India country head Shan Kadavil, revived Kochi-based startup seatohome.com founded by entrepreneur Mathew Joseph and turned it into a chemical-free food produce startup sourcing fresh fish and meat directly from over 1,000 fishermen and farmer co-operatives.

Kadavil roped in four former colleagues in Zynga to start the venture and has delivered to over 20,000 customers since its launch in August last year. It delivers 3 tonnes of produce every day. “The size of India's fish market is over $50 billion or 1% of the GDP. And 65% of the catch was exported ten years back. With higher incomes and rising domestic consumption, 90% of the produce is consumed domestically today. We want to deliver chemical-free fresh fish to customers bypassing middlemen and removing inefficiencies in the supply chain using our tech platform,” Kadavil said.