Secai Marche, a farm-to-table fulfillment platform serving farmers in Japan and Southeast Asia, has secured an additional $1.6 million (JPY 250 million) in its ongoing Series A funding round.
Secai Marche, a Tokyo-based startup, is transforming the farm-to-table supply chain. The new investment was led by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital (MSIVC), with additional debt financing from The Shizuoka Bank and The Hokkoku Bank.
Secai Marche will use the funds to scale its e-commerce platform, improve AI-driven demand forecasting, and streamline supply chain operations. The company will focus on expanding fulfillment centers and optimizing last-mile deliveries.
This latest round of investment, which will help the company expand its operations across Southeast Asia, follows a previous $3.5 million raised in August 2024 from investors, including Beyond Next Ventures, Spiral Ventures Asia, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Future Food Fund, Tsuneishi Shoji, Fukuoka Sonoriku, and Foodison co-CEO Toru Yamamoto.
Farm Fresh platform connecting farmers and chefs
Founded in 2019 by Ami Sugiyama and Shusaku Hayakawa, Secai Marche is solving a common problem faced by restaurants: sourcing fresh, high-quality ingredients from trusted suppliers. Through its platform, the company connects farmers directly with hotels, restaurants, and retailers, ensuring fresh produce reaches culinary professionals faster and with less hassle.
The founders of Secai Marche are driven by a simple yet powerful belief: farmers should focus on growing high-quality produce, not managing client relationships. By removing this burden, Secai Marche empowers farmers to do what they do best while providing chefs and restaurants with reliable, top-quality ingredients.
More than 1,400 hotels and restaurants in Southeast Asia now purchase fresh produce directly from small-scale farmers via the Secai Marche platform.
Secai Marche’s platform offers a wide selection of over 4,000 carefully curated ingredients, including vegetables, fruits, seafood, eggs, and more, sourced from Japan, Malaysia, and other regions. By connecting local farmers directly to F&B businesses, Secai Marche ensures sustainability and fair pricing for both producers and consumers, cutting out the middlemen that traditionally complicate food sourcing.
Yuko Shinohara, Manager at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital (MSIVC), emphasized the broader impact of Secai Marche’s platform on both the food industry and local communities. He noted that the company’s optimized supply chain and fulfillment system allow it to offer fresh, convenient, and affordable produce, which has contributed to its rapid customer growth in Kuala Lumpur. Shinohara believes Secai Marche is poised to become a key player in the export of Japanese food products and is expected to have a significant social impact by reducing food waste and improving the livelihoods of local farmers in Southeast Asia.
Future plans and Expansion
Secai Marche plans to use the newly raised funds to capitalize on the booming e-commerce and food and beverage (F&B) sectors in Southeast Asia. By leveraging cutting-edge technology, the company aims to enhance demand forecasting, reduce food waste, and optimize its distribution network. These improvements will enable restaurants and retailers to access high-quality, fresh produce more efficiently and at competitive prices.
With the reported 200% year-on-year growth since its inception, Secai Marche is poised to scale its operations even further. The new funding will be directed toward expanding the company’s fulfillment centers to meet growing customer demand, improving the accuracy of its AI-driven demand forecasting, and automating last-mile deliveries.
Additionally, the investment will support organizational growth and ramp up marketing activities to strengthen Secai Marche’s presence in the region as Southeast Asia’s food and beverage sector continues to evolve. Secai Marche aims to redefine the future of food supply in the region, bringing fresh, local produce to tables faster and more sustainably than ever before
