Online meat ordering startup Licious raises $25 mn in Series C round

Bengaluru-based Delightful Gourmet Pvt Ltd, which operates online meat and fish ordering platform Licious, has secured $25 million (Rs 181 crore at current exchange rates) in a Series C funding round from a clutch of investors, a company statement said.

The round was led by investment firm Bertelsmann India Investments and Temasek-backed Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. US-based UCLA Investment Company and existing investors venture capital firms Mayfield India, 3one4 Capital, and Sistema Asia Fund also participated in the round. InnoVen Capital provided Rs 12 crore ($1.6 million) in venture debt. 

The company will use the funds to expand its operations to new cities and to strengthen the supply chain, the statement added.

With presence in Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, the gourmet meat startup is also planning to enter Mumbai and Pune by the end of 2018.

“These funds will greatly aid us in deepening and widening our market presence and enable us to offer new products and services our customers will love,” said Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, co-founders, Licious.

The startup was set up in June 2015 by Gupta, an executive from the insurance industry, and Hanjura, a former finance controller at Helion Venture Partners. Licious operates 11 centres in Bengaluru. It not only procures fresh meat produce but also processes, stores and delivers it.

Investment banking and asset management firm Investec acted as the financial adviser to Licious on this transaction.

The company last raised $10 million (Rs 65 crore) in Series B funding in March 2017. Prior to this, it raised $3 million in a Series A round from Mayfield in April 2016 and in 2015, it received $1 million in seed funding from TV Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education Services and Aarin Capital; Kanwaljit Singh, co-founder of Helion Venture Partners and others.

Licious competes with Gurugram-based DSM Fresh Foods Pvt. Ltd, which runs online startup Zappfresh. The startup procures fresh meat such as chicken and mutton from farms and delivers it to the end customer on the same day that an order is placed on its portal. 

In March this year, it raised Rs 20 crore ($3 million) led by Amit Burman, vice chairman of consumer goods major Dabur India Ltd.