Freshket nets US$3M to bring together farmers and food processors to supply fresh produce in Thailand
Freshket, a Bangkok-based agritech startup, has raised US$3 million in Series A funding round led by Singapore-based Openspace Ventures, with participation from Thai PE firm ECG-Research and public-private joint venture Innospace.
Pamitra Wineka and Ivan Sustiawan (co-founders of Indonesian agritech startup Tanihub), existing investors Denis Asia Pacific (French/Singaporean food conglomerate), and Thai family office Seedersclub also participated.
“This infusion of capital will allow Freshket to upgrade technologies, enhance efficiencies in our supply chain management and improve our customer service platform. Our planned technology investments will enable us to scale rapidly and move further upstream in the supply chain,” said Co-founder and CEO Ponglada Paniangwet.
Founded in 2017 by Paniangwet and Tuangploi Chiwalaksanangkoon, Freshket is an e-commerce marketplace that brings together farmers and food processors to supply fresh produce to B2B and B2C customers in Thailand.
For the B2B segment, the food service market in Thailand alone is worth over US$7.7 billion in annual purchases spread across more than 200,000 restaurants.
Hian Goh, Founding Partner of Openspace Ventures, said: “Freshket is addressing a massive market opportunity and is positioned at the intersection of Thailand’s agriculture and food & beverage sectors. We will help the company further develop digital technologies to facilitate growth for farmers, food companies, and restaurants alike.”
In February 2017, Freshket raised six-digit US dollars in its first round of venture funding from 500 Tuk Tuks and a corporate VC fund of an agri firm in Thailand.
Freshket is Openspace’s second investment in Thailand this year following its first investment in Finnomena. It has also earlier invested in Tanihub and Singapore grocery platform Redmart.