Eyeing newer markets, meat delivery start-up Licious raises $25 million

Licious said it would use the funds to enter newer markets like Mumbai, Pune and Chennai by early next year and strengthen its product range and supply chain

Licious, an online marketplace for fresh meat and seafood, has raised another $25 million in a Series-D funding round, led by Japan's frozen foods company Nichirei Corp. The Bengaluru-based startup had raised $25 million just three months ago, in September.

Existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, UCLA, and Sistema Asia Fund also participated in the round.

Licious said it would use the funds to enter newer markets such as Mumbai, Pune and Chennai by early next year and strengthen its products range and supply chain. 

“Building a transformational and category leading food brand in an extremely complex environment requires conviction and inventive thinking, and we are glad we are on the right path. These funds will greatly aid our vision to build an Indian food brand with a global outlook,” said Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, co-founders, Licious.

Currently present in Bengaluru, Delhi, NCR and Hyderabad, the three-year-old company follows a farm-to-fork model, ensuring the right feed is given to livestock and the healthy breed is slaughtered as per the government norms after which it is transported in a cold chain environment to the processing plants where the meat is cleaned, cut, tenderised naturally, and packaged according to the safety norms.

“Safety and quality has always been the cornerstone for Nichirei since its inception and it is wonderful to share the same philosophy with Licious. With our individual experiences and business know-how, Nichirei and Licious can create beautiful synergy in future,” said a Nichirei spokesperson.

With the current round of funding, the company has raised $64 million so far. It has a revenue of around Rs 1 billion currently and wants to grow that to Rs 25 billion business over the next five years. The company which serves over 200,000 customers, is adding 15,000 new consumers month-on-month and is fulfilling about 5,000 orders per day.