Licious, a Bengaluru based meat and seafood marketplace, has raised $30 million in series E round. Singapore-based Vertex Growth Fund spearheaded the funding round while slew of existing investors also participated in the round. These existing investors included 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, and Sistema Asia Fund.
Licious claims that this is the biggest funding round raised by a company in the industry, which puts this Bengaluru based startup in a driving seat.
Commenting on the funding, Vivek Gupta & Abhay Hanjura, Co-Founders, Licious, said ““We are elated to see our marquee investors instill faith in our vision. “The results and the overall industry impact that we have been able to achieve demonstrates the increasing maturity of the market and that it is at the cusp of a major transformation. At Licious we are not just aiming at achieving success as a business but creating an unprecedented and consistent experience for all our stakeholders.”
The company claims that India’s meat and seafood industry is still underpenetrated and is largely dominated by small unorganized players. According to Gupta and Hanjura, unorganized players constitute nearly 92% of the market and they don’t necessarily adhere to the hygienic standards. Both co-founders are of the view that India’s meat and seafood industry is in the dire need of tech innovation.
Licious was founded in 2015 in the IT city of Bengaluru with the mission to redefine the way people buy meat and seafood products. This four-year-old startup claims that it processes more than 17,000 order per day and has been clocking 300% y-o-y growth since its inception. The company aims to reach the revenue of Rs 1,000 crore by 2023. The company currently offers e-commerce services in seven cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi- NCR , Hyderabad Chennai and Chandigarh.
Licious competes with well-funded startup FreshToHome, which earlier this year raised $20 Mn in a series B round.