The online fresh seafood commerce platform Yamtable has attracted 7 billion won (about US$6 million) in follow-up Series A investment. The accumulated investment for the company has surpassed 11 billion won (about US$9.4 million) since the first fund was raised in June last year. GS Home Shopping, which claimed to be a strategic investor, attracted attention from the follow-up investment by investing 3 billion won (about US$2.5 million).
Existing investor HB Investment decided early on to the follow-up investment, and PathfinderH and DT&Investment are newly joined as investors.
After raising 4 billion won (about US$3.4 million) through the Series A round in June last year, Yamtable has proved its investment effect as it has grown five times faster based on monthly sales. In January of this year, it surpassed $2.5 billion (about US$2.1 million) in monthly sales and 100,000 orders respectively. As growth accelerated, it attracted follow-up investment earlier than originally planned.
The investment will finance the purchase of strategic products and the expansion of processing centers and facilities for the central kitchen. The company aims to achieve 30 billion won (about US$25.7 million) in annual sales and 5 billion won (about US$4.2million) in monthly sales by the end of this year, using it as marketing expenses.
After purchasing the raw materials for the marine products, Yamtable will have a processing center in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, Tongyeong, Yangyang, Gangwon Province, and Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and central kitchen in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, and make and sell PB products optimized online. As it is in charge of direct production and sales, it is gaining popularity as a company that reduces the inconvenience of purchasing fishery products online.
“GS Home Shopping, which participated in this program, also appreciated the fact that it has an excellent competitive edge in the fisheries sector, which is the most difficult to do among fresh foods,” said Joo Sang-hyun, CEO of Yamtable. “It has become GS Home Shopping`s strategic investment portfolio because it has high growth potential in the future.”
