Edinburgh, United Kingdom-based online seafood marketplace Rooser has raised USD 23 million (EUR 21.5 million) in a Series A funding round.
The company, which has more than 300 active users and has recorded more than 50,000 transactions since it was founded in 2019, pulled in investments from Alphabet Inc.’s GV – formerly known as Google Ventures – as well as Index Ventures and Point Nine Capital. Figma CEO Dylan Field and Sennder CEO David Nothacker also invsted in the round. In total, Rooser has now raised around USD 26 million (EUR 24.3 million).
Rooser CEO Joel Watt told TechCrunch most of the seafood products currently listed on the company’s Sea.Store platform are from Iceland, and 95 percent of its sales are currently to French customers. But with the new funding, Watt said he is hoping to expand.
“We wanted to get fit in one market and then develop a supply side,” he said. “Now we can easily move into other countries as we spread across Europe.”
Rooser will use the new funding to expand into more markets and to continue the functionality of its trading platform, according to TechCrunch.
Watt said he hopes Sea.Store enables more traceability and less waste. He hopes to build out his company to provide stock management, sales tracking, supply-chain finance, buyer-seller matchmaking, and marketplace research.
Index Principal Georgia Stevenson said the company has shown promise in creating a more-efficient marketplace for seafood.
“It’s enabling less wastage, but it’s also just empowering seafood traders to do their jobs better,” she said. “We have been investing in categories and infrastructure to be more sustainable and we see Rooser as consistent with that.”
Image courtesy of Rooser
