Bengaluru-based consumer food brand start-up Licious has raised $3 million in Series A funding from Mayfield India II Management, a global fund that has made investments in start-ups like Simplilearn and Amagi.
The money will be used to spur product innovations by partnering with Executive Chefs with over 30 years of experience in five-star hotels, and to expand reach to other parts of the country. The start-had up raised seed funding of $1 million last year from marquee investors such as Kanwaljeet Singh, Mohandas Pai and Kaushal Agarwal.
The brainchild of Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Licious was conceived with the idea of building India’s largest meat brand that delivers fresh meat to consumers, thereby solving the perennial problem of finding safe, hygienic and high quality fresh meat.
The start-up began operations in Bengaluru in September, with a range of fresh chicken, lamb, and seafood products. It is grossing 15,000 orders a month at an average order value of Rs. 600 today.
It targets 1,00,000 orders a month by October. Plans are on to take the brand to Delhi-NCR over the next six months.
“We are a full stack food brand that has built an end-to-end process – from sourcing to stringent quality checks and processing”. The chicken and lamb reach us in less than four hours after slaughter and seafood reaches us under 24 hours.
“We follow a zero-inventory model and have perfected the art of estimating demand with hardly any wastage. Customers can order online, through our app, and by calling between 8 am and 8 pm, getting free shipping for a minimum order value of Rs. 300,” co-founder Abhay Hanjura told BusinessLine . Licious products are also available on Bigbasket and Grofers.
Apart from the fresh product range, Licious has launched an exhaustive selection of chicken and lamb marinades, which are signature recipes crafted with research and professional expertise of experienced five-star chefs, such as peri peri chicken, spiced wings, chicken meatballs with cheese and olives, lamb chops with garlic and rosemary, and Adraki curry cut.
Stating that the Rs. 1,80,000-crore fresh meat market is highly fragmented with 90 per cent falling under the unorganised wet market, co-founder Vivek Gupta said, “We aspire to be India’s biggest gourmet fresh meat brand and are working on product innovations such as pre-marinated products, recipes, DIY products, ready to cook meats and meatloaves.”
Angel Investor Mohandas Pai said the team at Licious has combined deep domain expertise, focus on unit economics, and uncompromising consumer experience, to build a defensible business around a simple but powerful idea.
Source: Business Line
