Licious raises $30 million in Series E round led by Singapore-based Vertex Growth Fund
Meat and seafood brand Licious raised $30 million in its Series E funding round. The round was led by Singapore-based Vertex Growth Fund along with its existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, and Sistema Asia Fund. Vertex primarily focuses on Singapore, India, Indonesia, Thailand and other emerging hubs.
According to the company, with the Series E funding, it now has the most funding in the industry. It plans to use these funds to expand to more cities, augment capabilities in existing markets, strengthening omnichannel presence and powering new product launches in the Ready-to-Eat category.
The company also plans to focus on upgrading the Indian meat and seafood ecosystem by bolstering technological intervention, expanding its pool of employees and training them on niche skills that the industry needs.
“The fact that 92% of the Indian meat and seafood industry is still unorganised, indicates the huge, underserved community that exists, as well as the opportunity that this sector has to offer. The traditional meat and seafood industry are in dire need of tech intervention, quality standardisation and a skilled talent pool. Licious is working towards creating these differentiators and will stay committed towards elevating India’s meat & seafood experience,” said Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, the co-founders of Licious.
Licious was started in 2015, and currently is in seven cities and process over 17,000 orders a day. The company, which has clocked a healthy growth rate of 300% y-o-y, aims at reaching a target of Rs 1,000 crores by 2023.
“Vertex Growth believes Licious is leading the transformation of the traditional meat and seafood industries to become the premier brand of choice. The market opportunity is exciting, fuelled by India’s favourable economic trends like rising per capita income and urban consumption trends,” said James Lee, the Managing Partner.