Bengaluru based Licious aims to improve its supply chain and build an omnichannel strategy to stay ahead in the D2C meat and seafood business even as Covid-19 nudges Indians to shop online.
On Friday, Bengaluru headquartered Licious announced that it has secured $192 million in a growth funding round. According to the company, the fresh capital will go towards using technology to accelerate supply chain transformation, improve product quality and customer experience. Currently operating across 14 Indian cities, Licious is also eyeing international markets with the latest fundraise.
Licious, operated by Delightful Gourmet, has so far raised $282 million, making it one of the highest funded companies in this category, according to data available with VCCEdge. The company, which has an app and a website, has been trying looking at acquisitions to expand physical stores.
The new round, Series F, was led by Singapore-headquartered investment company Temasek, and Multiples Private Equity. Other participants were Brunei Investment Agency, which is a government-owned corporation that reports to the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Brunei and existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, and others.
A few early investors have exited from their investment with this round, the company said, without disclosing the names.
Avendus acted as an exclusive financial adviser to Licious for the transaction, the statement said.
Previously, the company raised $30 million in a Series E round led by Vertex Growth Fund in December 2019.
Founded in 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Licious claims to deliver fresh meat and fish within 120 minutes of ordering the item. Apart from regular meat cuts, it offers ready to cook and meat-based spreads in its value added product categories.
The company claims to have witnessed a 300% growth in the last five years and served over three million packs of meat products to consumers across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kochi, Puducherry, Vizag, Vijayawada and Kolkata.
“There is a massive opportunity to be unlocked in this large $40 bn sector which has hitherto been devoid of safety, innovation, quality and sustainability standards. With rapidly increasing protein consumption being driven by a vast majority of Indian consumers, it was a matter of time before larger global investor community partook in this ambitious and transformative journey,” Licious founders Hanjura and Gupta said in a joint statement.
Licious claims to have served over 1 million orders every-month with over 90% repeat consumption across markets. Currently present in 14 cities, Licious has a 3,500 plus member team with employees, across different disciplines and functions.
Licious competes with Zappfresh, FreshToHome, TenderCuts and Meatigo.