Temasek-backed Indian D2C meat brand enters unicorn club with $52m raise

Licious, an India-based direct-to-consumer brand that sells premium meat and seafood, has raised US$52 million at a valuation of US$1 billion in a round led by IIFL AMC’s late-stage tech fund.

Licious co-founder Abhay Hanjura (right) and Vivek Gupta / Photo credit: Licious

The startup, which is backed by Singapore state investor Temasek, will use the fresh funds to ramp up its production and processing capabilities, strengthening the company’s tech backbone and scaling up the brand.

Licious was founded in 2015 to disrupt India’s US$40 billion unorganized meat and seafood industry.

The pandemic has provided tailwinds to the company, which now delivers 2 million orders every month – a 5x increase from March last year.

“Our annual revenue run rate has gone up from US$37.5 million before the pandemic to nearly US$135 million now,” Abhay Hanjura, co-founder of Licious, told Tech in Asia.

He added the company is not looking to diversify into new categories like groceries or dairy. “The idea is to build a strong product and not a delivery company,” he said.

Licious has also doubled down on its ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat categories, which now generate nearly 20% of its total revenue.

Licious has ambitions to go public in the next three years but only after it ensures it is clocking profits consistently, said Hanjura. The company is eyeing profitability within the next 15 to 18 months.

While the pandemic has delayed the company’s plans to enter international markets, it is weighing an entry into Southeast Asian and West Asian countries by next year.

In July, Licious had raised US$192 million in a series F round led by Temasek and Multiples. The Indian firm is one of the first D2C brands from the country to join the unicorn club.

See also: The decade of D2C has just begun in India

D2C has seen an investment boom in India recently, with more than US$1.2 billion flowing into the sector this year alone so far.