Licious, a tech startup that sells fresh meat and seafood, is the latest entrant in the unicorn club. It announced on Tuesday that it has secured USD 52 million (about Rs 387 crore) in funding from investors including IIFL AMC.
Licious, based in Bengaluru, said that it has raised USD 52 million in Series G funding led by IIFL AMC, making it India’s first direct-to-consumer (D2C) unicorn.
A unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion in the business world.
The company said that it has reached a billion-dollar valuation after receiving USD 52 million in funding from IIFL AMC’s Late Stage Tech Fund.
Licious Co-Founders Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura said, “Despite the fact that funding for the direct-to-consumer sector has increased tremendously, FMCG is still not the most appealing category. We anticipate Licious’ Unicorn status to change.”
They said that the fresh meats and seafood sector is still mainly underserved and unorganised, with a huge opportunity worth USD 40 billion.
“Through investments in technology for supply chain excellence, product innovation, talent, and vendor partner upgrades, we will continue to expand the category,” they stated.
Licious claims that in just five years, it has grown by 300%. It has sold over three million packets of meat to customers in Bangalore, Hyderabad, NCR, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kochi, Puducherry, Vizag, Vijayawada, and Kolkata.
Every month, Licious serves over 1 million orders, with over 90% repeat consumption across markets, according to the company.
Published: October 5, 2021, 13:38 IST
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