Global push for online fish market

Digital seafood marketplace Shore-Trade closed an $8 million funding round to support a huge global expansion plan targeting Asia and the US.

The start-up, which helps fishers move off pen and paper and sell catches directly to buyers, was founded by Sydney restaurateur Peter Manettas.

The latest round comes with a $70 million pre-money valuation, and was led by Investible and Luxem, while Singaporean alternative investment manager Vulpes came in as a new investor. It also had support from undisclosed wealthy investors.

Mr Manettas said the platform had had substantial traction since it launched in 2019, with purchases being made by wholesalers of up to $60,000 in a single deal, and restaurants buying a few hundred dollars of seafood daily.

‘‘It has a wide spectrum of users ... COVID accelerated the growth of the platform because people had to find new markets to push their product into, when their usual markets fell out from underneath them,’’ he said.

‘‘We have just under 500 registered fishermen or fisheries on ShoreTrade, ranging from small mum-and-dad fisheries jig catching calamari, through to major organisations with multiple arms and species.’’

Mr Manettas has been linked to the Sydney food scene for more than 17 years, with his family owning six restaurants in Darling Harbour.

The capital will support Shore-Trade’s expansion through China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and the US.

‘‘We plan to be quite heavily established across [those] six strategic areas, with satellite networks and we’ll continue to vertically integrate the supply chain with investments in those areas.

‘‘The food service industry and export markets drive domestic demand for seafood, but Australia has some of the best seafood in the world. Our platform opens up the opportunity for both large and small players to access this at a global scale.’’

The company is also building a new feature which is poised to launch in the coming weeks, which will let buyers use the platform to request what they would like to purchase.

Thanks to COVID-19, there were substantial price drops in the last year of seasonal seafood produce such as lobsters, with fishers forced to offload their hauls at large discounts.

Compounding local challenges caused by the lockdowns, China placed import restrictions on seafood, as well as beef and other goods.

As a consequence, as part of the federal budget the government allocated $4 million into a national marketing campaign to encourage Australians to eat more Australian seafood.

Mr Manettas said his big goal was to digitise the entire fishing supply chain. He created an investment vehicle alongside ShoreTrade to invest in or acquire companies involved in areas such as seafood infrastructure or digital aquaculture. His vision is to eventually roll up the investments into one entity and take it public.

‘‘We want to give the fishing industry back to the people,’’ he said.