A Meaty Intervention
It is safe to say that Licious has come to be known as the go-to choice for an unmatched range of meat and meat products over the last seven years in India. The Bengaluru-headquartered company has truly carved a niche for itself by entering and disrupting the space of animal protein that had stayed untouched due to the deep cultural stigma.
The whole experience of buying meat in India — which includes procuring it from unhygienic slaughter houses in black plastic bags – is quite unappetising. But Licious saw an opportunity in this tough segment as it got down to introducing positivity around the whole experience of buying meat.
A Category Leader
According to Statista, the revenues generated by India in the processed meat segment will be $3.35 billion in 2022, and the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.19 per cent between 2022 and 2027. Licious is, of course, aiming for a huge chunk of this enormous pie.
But Licious is doing a lot more than selling processed meat. The complexity of the company’s operation emerges when you look at it through a de-aggregated view of the inventory that it tries to carry across 150 fulfillment points through five different farm-to-fork full cycles within 24-36 hours, with a 90-minute delivery promise while trying to maintain 90-plus per cent availability and less than 5 per cent waste! Over the last six years, the meat products brand has maintained a growth of 300 per cent y-o-y despite the seeming complexity of what it does day in and day out. And this growth has not come in the way of the brand’s strong commitment to sustainability. “We have a chief sustainability officer and we have a sustainability team in-house,” says Abhay Hanjura, Co-founder, Licious.
“In a category where the conversation is still around why meat needs to be refrigerated, talking about sustainability today sounds to many like Greek and Latin. But the point is if we don’t speak in Greek and Latin today, tomorrow, nobody’s going to make English out of it,” he explains.
Recently, the company acquired the coveted SA 8000:2014 Social Accountability, ISO 14001 Environmental Management, and ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management. This makes Licious one of the 10 companies worldwide to re¬ceive this certification by the British Standard Institution (BSI).
The First D2C Unicorn
In October 2021, Licious became India’s very first D2C unicorn. The company further raised $150 million in March 2022 in Series F2, which saw healthy participation of both domestic and international investors. With some money in its kitty, Licious is now looking at expanding its presence beyond 28 cities in India and exploring international opportunities in FY23.
