Licious: How it is Emerging as a One-Stop Platform for Fresh Meat & Sea Food?

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Love eating non-veg right? Whenever it is a certain Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday, your hearts come out crying for non-veg. To have just a glimpse of your favorite non-veg dishes or a mouthful of the most delicious chicken, mutton, or fish is simply a yearning that grows all the more during these vegetarian days. However, even if we plan to have a quick snack out of the non-veg dishes, there are times that we don't manage to find them at our homes these days.

But that's no more of an issue in today's world.

Yes, with the birth of Licious, fresh meat and fish are not scarce now.
Whether you love chicken, meat, fish, seafood, eggs, or cold cuts, Licious is always there beside you to deliver the best products to your doorstep.

The Direct-to-consumer meat and seafood brand is announced as the first Indian unicorn company from the D2C segment and the 29th unicorn in the country in 2021. Licious startup joined the unicorn club on October 5, 2021.

Read more about Licious, Startup Story, Owner, Business Model, Revenue Model, Funding and Investors, Growth, Competitors, and more in this success story that follows!

Licious - Company Highlights

About Licious
Licious - Startup Story
Licious - Founders And Team
Licious - Name, Tagline and Logo
Licious - Business Model
Licious - Revenue Model
Licious - Funding And Investors
Licious - Investments
Licious - Acquisition
Licious - Growth and Revenue
Licious - Product Launch
Licious - Challenges
Licious - Competitors
Licious - Advertisements and Campaigns
Licious - Awards and Achievements
Licious - Future Plans

About Licious

Licious is a Bengaluru-based meat and seafood brand. The company serves the best, fresh, and clean fish, chicken, meat, and eggs online. Licious works on a farm-to-fork model owning the entire back-end supply chain and the cold chain. A separate recipe section is also present in their App. It helps the customers to cook delicious dishes. And also teaches the exotic chef style.

It operates across Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Coimbatore, Pondicherry, Jaipur, Kochi, Vizag, Kolkata, and Vijayawada.

Licious - Startup Story

Abhay Hanjura approached Vivek Gupta (who was then working with Helion Ventures) to explore the space of fresh meat and seafood delivery in India. Although 73% of Indians eat meat and seafood, the industry is highly unorganized. An average Indian household consumes 2000-3000 different branded products, meat being the only exception (well, almost). More than 95% of the fresh meat & seafood industry in India is unorganized & usually conjures up an image of an unhygienic local market, filth, stench & an unpleasant buying experience. The duo wanted to change the way Indians experience meat.

Hence, Licious was created with the thought that India deserves better meat.

Abhay and Vivek were having lunch while discussing the business idea. The chicken they were having was of really bad quality. Vivek remarked that, if we have to build Licious we will have to put life in this dead chicken! That was the moment they realized what they wanted to achieve through Licious- to deliver an unparalleled meaty experience to Indians, introduce global quality standards & benchmarks, set up a hitherto non-existent infrastructure & build processes that India was yet to see.

Taking up this idea of changing the way meat is procured, processed, and sold in India, Abhay Hanjura decided to leave his well-paying job at an insurance brokerage firm where he worked. Hearing this, Hanjura's family, who were pure vegetarians, even threatened to disown him, finding this meaty idea very hard to stomach. However, they didn't decide to stop Abhay from meeting Vivek though, and as a result, we now have the unicorn online meat supplier, Licious, from where we can order meat and seafood anytime.

Licious chose a simple mission statement- we won’t sell what we won’t eat ourselves! It is this simple credo that has been the driving force at the company and continues to be so, 5 years later.

Licious - Founders And Team

Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura are the founders of Licious.

Vivek Gupta

Vivek Gupta is the Co-founder of Licious. He started his career as a Corporate Finance Manager at Tavant Technologies. Vivek previously served as the Finance Controller of Helion Ventures and the Non-Executive Director at MobiCom Commune Pvt. Ltd. He completed his BCom from Punjab University and went on to become a Chartered Accountant (CA).

Abhay Hanjura

Abhay Hanjura is also the Co-founder of Licious. He is a Hindu Kashmiri Pandit and was the campus ambassador of Infosys. Abhay started his career as a Deputy Manager at India Insure Risk Management Services. He was also the Head of Business Intelligence and Associate Director of Futurisk Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd.

Licious - Name, Tagline and Logo

It was the time when Vivek and Abhay started engaging with Adithya Kote, who was then the Creative Head at Cafe Coffee Day Group. For the naming of the brand, the duo went through 300+ name ideas, after which they were satisfied with "Licious" as the name, and decided to choose it, which is actually taken from the word “delicious”. When Abhay was once asked why he kept "Licious" as their brand name, he said, “We wanted to name our company something that appeals to people’s emotions. Our intention was to be a complete meat brand.”

Licious changed its old logo to the new one on June 3, 2022. The popular meat brand launched its new logo with a new colour scheme and this way it refreshed its brand identity. Walking down the new logo, we find 3 colors dominating - smoky grey, hearty red, and creamy white. This new logo was launched to enliven the lusciousness associated with meat. Speaking on this new makeover, Santosh Hegde, Vice President, of brands, Licious, mentioned that innovation and evolution are not just pertinent but critical to the journey of Licious.

Licious - Business Model

Licious has got a farm-to-fork business model. The company handles the entire supply chain. Starting from procurement, processing, and storage to reaching the consumer, in the end, the responsibility of the company is everything. The startup it seems, has borrowed a page from Amul's playbook to get rid of the middlemen and control procurement directly along with processing and marketing. Speaking on it, Abhay said, "I strongly believe that what Amul did for milk, Licious will do for animal husbandry".

Licious claims that 50% of the startup's meat comes from its own farms, which was only 10% in 2020. Furthermore, Licious also owns processing and delivery centers. Licious has also started to remove the stigma around meat right from the first day. Instead of black plastic bags, Licious sold meat in neat boxes and leakage-proof pouches and containers.

Transactions are very safe and secured here with Licious. The company strives to maintain the freshness and the quality of every product. They have both, a web platform as well as a mobile app. Consumer loyalty is the main focus of the brand.

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Licious - Revenue Model

Licious receives a major chunk of its revenues from the sale of its meat products, seafood, marinate, and eggs. The rest of the revenues come from the delivery of the products and other related services.

Licious has successfully delivered to more than 2 million unique customers to date, it added. The average basket size is INR 700.

Licious - Funding And Investors

Licious has raised a total amount of $488.3 million in funding including the latest funding round led by Amansa Capital, Kotak PE, Axis Growth, and others on March 15, 2022, where the investors infused $150 million in funding.

Licious became the 29th unicorn of India in 2021 and the first unicorn startup from the D2C segment.

Licious' Funding and investors' details are as follows -

Licious Investors

TV Mohandas Pai, Vertex Growth Fund, Nichirei Corp, 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, UCLA, Sistema Asia Fund, Mayfield Capital, Sistema Asia Fund, Korea-based Neoplux Technology Fund and Innoven Capital are some of the investors in the company. The Series F round of investment further added Multiples Alternate Asset Management and Brunei Investment Agency as the latest investors.

Licious - Investments

Licious has made 1 investment to date. The maiden investment round of Licious went to Pawfectly Made, in which it invested close to $1 million on April 27, 2022. Licious, along with the same, also became a strategic partner of the Bengaluru-based pet food startup.

Licious - Acquisition

On October 15, 2024, Licious bought the Bengaluru-based offline retailer 'My Chicken and More' for INR 150-200 crore. The retailer has 23 stores in the city. Co-founder Vivek Gupta said this deal will help Licious expand faster in South India.

With this cash and equity deal, Licious now has a strong physical presence in Bengaluru, increasing its total number of stores to 26.

Licious - Growth and Revenue

The business saw a 500% growth in the past years and continues to hold on to the momentum. While all product categories saw growth, the ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat categories contributed significantly to the revenue. Products like the kebab range & chicken spreads emerged as favorites, while new launches like tandoori products are seeing quick traction too. Licious is in fact, hailed as the largest player in this segment.

The company has enjoyed a repeat purchase rate of 90% and continues to enjoy the same. Licious further takes pride in the fact that the company has successfully served more than 2 million unique customers during the past year.

People usually say that most Indians are vegetarians. But this is not true. More than 73% of the population in India eats meat. This is the biggest fact behind Licious' growth. Surveys say that the fresh meat and seafood market is very unorganized. That is why online platforms have emerged to help people all around. Licious promised its consumers hygiene and quality.

Licious opened its first offline store in Bengaluru in June 2022 and is looking forward to being profitable in the next 12-18 months.

• The company delivered more than 2 million unique customers till October 2021.
• Licious valuation is $ 1.5 billion as of July 2023.
• The company has 1,535 employees.
• It processes over 1.2 million orders every month.

Licious Financials

Licious has seen steady growth over the last two years. Its revenue stayed close to INR 700 crore. In FY24, the company cut its losses by 44%, even though its revenue dropped by 9%, going from INR 746 crore in FY23 to INR 685 crore in FY24. The company lowered its loss to INR 294 crore in FY24, down from INR 524 crore in FY23.

Operating revenue at Licious grew from INR 682.5 crore in FY22 to INR 747.7 crore in FY23. In terms of firm profit or loss, losses were INR 485 crore in FY22 and INR 500 crore in FY23.

Expenses

Total expenses for licious increased to INR 1,309 crore in FY23 from INR 1,191 crore in FY22.

EBITDA

In FY22-FY23, the EBITDA margin stood at a challenging -62.75%, which improved slightly to -55.45% in FY23. The expense-to-revenue ratio remained consistent at Rs 1.75 during both periods. However, the Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) declined from -29% in FY22 to -40.05% in FY23.

Licious - Product Launch

Spices

Online meat retailer Licious announced in December 2022 that it will introduce specialty spice blends in the top 8 cities.

Plant-Based

Licious launched plant based programme Uncrave in December 2022.

Store

With the opening of five new Licious Stores in the Delhi-NCR region in June 2023, Licious is enhancing its offline presence. By providing an immersive environment for devoted Licious fans, these shops hope to alter the conventional meat-buying process.

Rewards Programme Infiniti

The debut of Licious Infiniti, a special rewards-based program for Licious customers, was announced by Licious in August 2023. The program provides users with endless benefits with no limitations or constraints, as the name would imply.

Licious - Challenges

The challenges started from day 1 for Licious, even before it was launched.

Abhay's Family Opposed

Abhay Hanjura, who is from Jammu and hails from a family of Kashmiri pandits was opposed by his family, who are pure vegetarians to getting on with one such idea of building a meat startup. However, as they didn't restrain him completely from meeting Vivek, the startup took its shape ultimately and grew to become a revolutionary meat brand.

Late Deliveries

Outside of Abhay's house, things went so bad that the startup had to close operations on the very first day of its launch in a country that is No. 4 in meat production globally. All of Licious' deliveries were late. Though the brand chased a high-quality product solution, it didn't simply work that hard on the supply chain system. This is why it took 15-20 more days for Licious to get back in business.

Researchers found that there was a dearth of cold storage facilities in India. Besides, storing meat well and retaining its freshness is a big challenge for many companies, which Licious is trying to capitalize on.

Some other Licious challenges include:

• The rise of more competitors and the intensity of the competition in the online meat market
• Frequent livestock infections
• The rise of meat substitutes
• The costs that are involved in servicing smaller orders
• Consumer preferences to buy meat from local meat sellers

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Licious - Competitors

The top competitors of Licious are:

• FreshToHome
• ZappFresh
• TenderCuts

Licious - Advertisements and Campaigns

Licious is not only new in its business strategy and the focused area of operation but also in its marketing campaigns and advertisements that the start has planned during its journey. The brand has collaborated with a bundle of celebrities from the Bollywood and the Tollywood film industries till now including Kunaal Roy Kapoor, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, etc.

The company rolled out its #FasterChef campaign the actor Arjun Kapoor featured, which was focused on good food and the joy of sharing the same. Most of the Licious campaigns are focusing on the same.

Licious - Awards and Achievements

Being the first major business in India that solely focuses on the delivery of fresh meat, fish, eggs, and seafood, Licious has been honored with numerous awards and recognitions in its journey so far. Here's a list of the awards and achievements that Licious has received to date:

• One of the top 12 emerging startups by CB Insights in 2016
• Named among the SuperStartups Asia in 2017
• BW Disrupt named Licious in its 40 under 40 list in 2018
• Licious' founders were among the 50 Most Influential Indians GQ India
• The company received the FSSC22000 UKAS certification in 2018
• INC42 labeled Licious as one of the Most Innovative Startups in 2018
• Entrepreneur Magazine noticed Licious in its 35 Under 35 in 2019
• Fortune's 40 Under 40 list included Licious in 2019
• It was in the same year that Licious was included in BW's 35 Under 35 list
• Licious grabbed the CII_ Outstanding Performance in Food Safety Award in the category of Small & Medium Manufacturing Food Businesses –Rising Star - Meat & Poultry in 2019
• Licious Spreads received the Frost & Sullivan Innovation Award in 2019
• Licious was also dubbed by the Economic Times as one of the Most Promising Business Leaders of Asia in 2019
• It was the Food & Beverage Start-up of the Year in 2020, as per the Entrepreneur Magazine
• Licious won the Thought Leadership Award for ESG goals in December 2021.

Licious - Future Plans

Licious has significantly increased its footprints over 2020 & 2021.

Licious used to operate in 14 markets across India, namely Bangalore, Hyderabad, NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kochi, Puducherry, Vizag, Vijayawada, and Kolkata, which has now expanded to include 16 cities.

Licious is changing its focus from online sales to offline operations. The company plans to open 500 physical stores in the top 20 cities it serves. By the end of the financial year 2024-25, Licious aims to open 25 offline stores.

Have you tried Licious yet? If yes, then share your experience and feedback on Licious. Feel free to reach us and share your feedback. We would love to hear from you. Do comment us in the comments section below. Happy Reading.

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FAQs

What is Licious?

Licious is a meat and seafood company. It serves the best quality meat online.

Who is the founder of Licious?

Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura are the owners of Licious company.

How much is Licious Revenue FY24?

In FY24, Licious cut its losses by 44%, with a revenue of INR 685 crore from INR 746 crore in FY23.

Is Licious an Indian company?

Yes. Licious is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

How many customers does Licious have?

Licious has a customer base of more than 1.2 million customers monthly. The average basket size is INR 700.

Who are the competitors of Licious?

The top competitors of Licious are FreshToHome, ZappFresh, and TenderCuts.

What is the business model of Licious?

Licious has got a farm-to-fork business model. The company handles the entire supply chain. Starting from procurement, processing, and storage to reaching the consumer, in the end, is the responsibility of the company.