India’s Licious Notches $30M To Boost Online Food Sales

Meat and seafood brand Licious, based in Bengaluru, India, has raised $30 million in a Series E funding round led by Singapore-based Vertex Growth Fund, TechCrunch reported on Monday (Dec. 16).

Also participating in the round were existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, and Sistema Asia Fund.

The four-year-old startup has raised $94.5 million to date and employs more than 2,000 people. Executives told the news outlet that the eCommerce platform has grown 300 percent year-over-year and is striving to produce $140 million in annual revenue by 2023.

The Licious eCommerce outlet sells meat and seafood in the Indian cities of Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali, Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai. No inventory is stocked and the 17,000 daily orders are processed within a day, sometimes even same-day. 

Licious will use the funding to expand its presence across new and existing markets and boost its product line in the ready-to-eat space, according to Licious Co-Founder Vivek Gupta.

Most of the meat and seafood industry is unorganized, Gupta said, which makes it a good opportunity for newcomers. Anticipated growth in India’s cold-chain market is expected to be an estimated $37 billion by 2024, according to industry projections, the report said.

“The traditional meat and seafood industry are in dire need of tech intervention, quality standardization and a skilled talent pool. Licious is working towards creating these differentiators and will stay committed to elevating India’s meat and seafood experience,” he said.

Rival startup FreshToHome raised $20 million in an August Series B funding round to expand into other areas of India. The company sells “100 percent” fresh vegetables and meat to 650,000 customers in 10 cities in India, and recently launched operations in UAE, as well as opened physical stores in Bangalore and Chennai. It has raised $33 million to date sources all of its food directly from 1,500 fishermen and farmers across the nation, using an app to negotiate with its suppliers.