Gfresh officially announced that the company had raised $20 million in funding from Alibaba (Riverhill) and Legend Capital. Along with the funding, Simon Xi, the co-founder of Alibaba and Tony Wang of Legend Capital will also be joining the board of the online seafood marketplace.
The distribution of Gfresh online marketplace covers, among other Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing.
But the company aims to become the leading online business-to-business marketplace for global seafood.
Gfresh started off in November, 2014, and sold over $200 million in gross merchandise value within its two years operative.
Gfresh is able to deliver fresh seafood products direct from the source to end users with transparency in freight tracking for a minimum one box delivery.
The company belongs to Regs Group, one of the largest seafood import agents in China that provides logistics services in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
The financing by Alibaba and Legend Capital opens many exciting doors. Gfresh will embark on a cooperative relationship with You Shi Guan Jia, an online-to-offline distribution business also participated by Legend Capital. And for seamless supply, Gfresh recently committed to an agreement with Tmall and He Ma fresh produce.
Along with developing a multi-channel distribution, other key initiatives include innovation in product and technology. This covers an international logistics tracking system, an improved inspection service, the unique Gfresh reverse auction model for seafood, and G-pay, an escrow account for payment.
Today, over 30 countries or regions trade seafood online, including Australia, North America, New Zealand, south-eastern Asia and several European countries. Gfresh aims to provide an even better platform for regions to showcase their brands and sell their products, also in China.
Some agreements like the one signed with the Global Aquaculture Alliance in August 2016 or the industry-first agreement with the China Certification and Inspection Group Canada (CCICCA) inked in June this same year show the global vocation of the company.
The agreement with CCICCA has provided Canadian exporters on this online platform a quick and easy trade route into China.
Following the data provided by the Spaniard Agriculture, Food and Environment Ministry, seafood products consumption in China is growing at a 10% pace annually.
