Homegrown meat brand Licious has appointed former MFine and Myntra executive Ajit Narayanan as the chief product and technology officer (CPTO).
Narayanan will spearhead the company’s efforts towards transforming the brand and category along with consumer experience and supply chain management.
He has over two decades of expertise in building and scaling digital products and technology across diverse domains of e-commerce, healthcare, mobile and artificial intelligence and is an inventor on many patents in these domains.
"Meat supply chains and storefronts are extremely complex due to the perishability of the product & challenges in ensuring the highest levels of quality & service throughout the entire supply chain. It is clear that the application of technologies like RFID, IoT, computer vision, predictive analytics and machine learning will highly optimize every part of this complexity, help predict and manage precise production, storage and movement of stock across the phases of farming, sourcing, production and distribution to our consumers to delight them with the best meat and alternative protein products & services,” Narayanan said.
He added, “This will be a key driver for Licious's next phase of growth. This technology stack can become a first of its kind end-to-end meat commerce product of the world.”
Prior to Licious, Narayanan was the CTPO and founding member of the healthcare startup MFine. Some of his notable innovations were in the areas of assistive AI technology for doctors and the industry's first vital monitoring devices on the mobile. He also served as the chief technology officer for Myntra and as vice president of product & technology at SAP. He holds a degree as an engineer in the field of electronics and communication.
Founded by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta in 2015, Licious claims to have grown 300% in the past six years. The company operates in 28 cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai and Pune.
Licious, in April, made its first strategic investment of about $1 million in fresh pet food startup Pawfectly Made, wherein the brand would function as a separate entity and production process.
The company also raised $150 million in March, in an extended Series F funding round led by Singapore’s Amansa Capital, and about $52 million in October 2021, from IIFL Asset Management Ltd’s private equity fund at a billion-dollar valuation.
It claims to serve over 2 million orders every month, and employs about 6000, across different functions.
Last month, Licious forayed into the plant-based meat business, it is targeting a 50% jump in revenue run rate by the end of this financial year buoyed by its latest foray. In an interview, Abhay Hanjura, co-founder, Licious, said the company is expected to hit a revenue run rate of ₹1,500 crore by March-end, up from ₹1,000 crore last financial year. “We hope to achieve Ebitda profitability over the next 12 months. Currently, we are contributory margin positive,” he said.
