SECAI MARCHE Raised JPY 510 million in Series A for Farm-Direct Fulfillment Platform for Asia

The Farm-Direct Fulfillment platform, SECAI MARCHE, raised JPY 510 million in its Series A round.  

With over 1,300 stores in Malaysia, the fresh food supply chain network is expanding rapidly. Along with additional investment from existing shareholders, Mitsubishi UFJ  Capital Co., Ltd., Future Food Fund, and several other companies and VCs have joined, accelerating service expansion to meet the growing needs of  F&B customers in Malaysia and Singapore. 

(Refer to : How a Japanese Startup Gained 1000+ Customers in Southeast Asia With a Data-Driven Approach)

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SECAI MARCHE Inc. (Headquarters: Tokyo, Global bases: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and  Singapore), which is building a fresh food supply chain in Southeast Asia, has raised 300 million yen in a new third-party allotment of new shares  for a Series A totaling 510 million yen.

This funding comes from Beyond Next Ventures,  Spiral Ventures Asia Fund I, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Future Food Fund, TSUNEISHI CORPORATION, Fukuoka Sonoriku,Toru Yamamoto (CEO of Foodison Co., Ltd.), and others. 

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SECAI MARCHE's Track Record 

In 2019, we launched a Southeast Asian B2B Farm-Direct E-commerce and fulfillment site that directly connects farmers with restaurant consumers. 

Since then, as the most reliable fresh food fulfillment platform in region, we have continued to expand the number of farmers & fishermen, and users as a pioneers in delivering high-quality, transparent fresh food to consumers (restaurants and retail stores). We have achieved 200% growth each year. 

We offer over 4,000 carefully selected ingredients from producers around the world, including Japan and Malaysia, and provide a one-stop fulfillment service focused on fresh foods such as egg, vegetables, fruits, and seafood.  

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Strengths of our Farm-Direct supply chain 

● A direct distribution network from production area to consumption areas that bypasses existing distribution channels through an optimized consolidation method.

● Producers can achieve stable income by accessing demand forecast information

● Consumers (Retailers & Restaurants) can purchase high-quality, reasonably priced products in small quantities, with a wide variety, all in one stop  

● Comprehensive fulfillment technology that minimizes waste rates and delivery cost

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Purpose of Fundraising 

In response to the rapid growth of the restaurant industry in Southeast Asia, and the increasing demand for out high-quality, cost-competitive services in Malaysia and Singapore, we will use  the funds to expand our fulfillment centers, enhance the accuracy of demand forecasts using AI, and automate and optimize the last-mile deliveries.  

We also plan to allocate the funds for system development and marketing activities. This fundraising will serve as a starting point for rapidly expanding our market share in Southeast  Asia.  

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Comments from investors in this round 

Beyond Next Ventures Inc. Partner Akito Arima 

I have been impressed by Hayakawa and Sugiyama’s powerful leadership and high commitment for the past five years, and have now made an additional investment. Over the past five years,  we have overcome many challenges together and have grown into a top-class company in Malaysia in terms of the number of customers and the farmers with products we handle.  

I will continue to fully commit to support them, by sharing the company vision, mission and goals, "Committed to creating a sustainable society, where hardworking farmers thrive through  gaining direct access to its consumers." 

Spiral Ventures Asia Fund I, L.P.  / GP: Spiral Ventures Asia Limited, Director, Yuji Horiguchi 

Following our investment in 2022, we have made an additional investment this time as well. We understand that raising funds in the current investment environment must have been challenging, but Mr. Hayakawa and Mr. Sugiyama's strong passion for their business has been a significant driving force in overcoming difficult times. Their genuine approach to actively involving shareholders and striving towards their goals has taught us the importance of essential qualities as business leaders. With the addition of even more remarkable shareholders, we will all support future growth together.

Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co.,Ltd  / General Manager Yuichi Nishio 

SECAI MARCHE provides over 4,000 fresh food products on its own fulfillment platform, mainly in Malaysia and Singapore. As the company celebrates its 6th anniversary, it has been  consistently striving to improve the quality of local food and to promote and provide the appeal of Japanese foodstuffs overseas, and is now facing a big challenge to make even greater strides  in the future. We strongly sympathize with his passionate and strong will and conviction, and  have decided to invest in the company in order to play a role in its business expansion. With this investment, we would like to contribute to the growth of MUFG's business by taking advantage of our strengths as a member of MUFG and MUFG's network in Southeast Asia. 

Future Food Fund Inc. Hiro Hasegawa 

From my own experience in fulfillment and supply chains at a food startup, I feel that in order to realize a better food world, not only the deliciousness of the ingredients and food themselves is important, but also the systems and infrastructure that support the industry. After hearing about Sugiyama and Hayakawa's strong background in this business and how they strategically invested in fulfillment system development even during the pandemic, we decided to join them. We look forward to working together in the future to build this food infrastructure in Southeast Asia and expand sales channels for Japanese agricultural products. 

TSUNEISHI CORPORATION CO., LTD Capitalist Ikuma Sone 

The management team, with deep knowledge and experience in the industry, is taking on the challenges of food distribution in Malaysia and Singapore and steadily growing the business. 

We are confident that SECAI MARCHE's services will provide great value to both producers and consumers, and we look forward to working together to realise their mission of ‘creating a world where everyone can play a leading role’.

Fukuoka Sonoriku Co., Ltd. / Executive Vice President Yusuke Sonoda 

SECAI MARCHE is a rapidly growing company that meets the needs of the times by providing  a new supply chain in Southeast Asia, where refrigerated logistics networks are underdeveloped. We decided to invest in the company because we believe that their service, which connects production areas with consumption areas by capturing the needs, is a service that will improve an entire industry of food and agriculture by improving eco-system itself. 

We are confident that the collaboration of SECAI MARCHE's end-to-end fulfillment service and Fukuoka Sonoriku's logistic technologies & skills and agricultural production networks will lead to further development in Thailand and more in the future. 

Toru Yamamoto (CEO, Foodison, Inc.) 

We are honored to invest in SECAI MARCHE. We are impressed by the passion and vision of co-founders Sugiyama and Hayakawa. 

We expect that their innovative approach with Japan quality , and deep market knowledge will contribute greatly not only to Japanese fresh produce, but also to building infrastructure for product distribution in Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia. 

Through this investment, we look forward to seeing SECAI MARCHE's fulfillment service achieve further success and sustainable growth.

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Background to the launch of the service 

The Southeast Asian e-commerce market is projected to exceed $240 billion by 2025, but e-commerce has lagged in the fresh food sector due to underdeveloped of refrigerated logistics networks (such as cold chains from producers to consumers and small-scale  collection and delivery functions).

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, there have been more cases of producers selling directly to consumers via e-commerce, but this has been limited  to those with their own refrigerated logistics capabilities. By providing a consistent fulfillment service with Japanese quality to many small and medium-sized businesses and producers without refrigerated logistics capabilities, we are rapidly advancing the e-commerce of fresh food in Southeast Asia. 

(Refer to : How a Japanese Startup Gained 1000+ Customers in Southeast Asia With a Data-Driven Approach)