SMRK writes off its investment in Seadora — it stalled in Ukraine due to the war

Seafood delivery startup Seadora, which has been operating in Kyiv since October 2019, was forced to halt its operations in Ukraine due to the full-scale invasion. The launch in new markets did not give the desired results for the main investor, the SMRK fund. As a result, the fund was forced to write off the investment. The fund’s General Partner Andriy Dovzhenko told AIN.Capital the news.

• Seadora allowed the customers to order fish and other seafood directly from the fishing place. Thanks to this approach, the delivery time was reduced to 2-3 days instead of 10-14.
• The startup had partners all over the world. After a set of orders, the startup did fishing and organized air transportation. At the same time, the seafood was not frozen, but only cooled and stored at a temperature of +3-5 degrees Celcius.
• As Forbes reported, before the start of the full-scale war, the startup had good results: 10,000 regular customers. The average check was UAH 1,200 in the high season from October to March, UAH 850 in the low season. In 2020, the startup finished with barely $250,000 in proceeds, and in 2021, it made $1.5 million.
• However, after the start of the full-scale invasion, Seadora’s $3 million investment round collapsed. All the fish in the warehouses was donated to the Armed Forces. And the importers didn’t immediately figure out how to restore supply lines.
• According to AIN.Capital, the restart of the operations in the UAE did not meet the investor’s expectations, so the fund decided to write off the investment. Andriy Drohobytsky, the founder of Seadora, did not abandon the idea of developing the project in other markets, but SMRK decided not to continue cooperation.