Licious, a Bangalore-based startup selling fresh meat and seafood online, has raised $ 192 million in a new round of funding to expand its presence beyond the South Asian market.
The new round – a Series F – was led by Singapore’s investment firm Temasek and Multiples Private Equity. The round that increases the six-year-old Indian firm to over $ 285 million to date puts the startup at more than $ 650 million (according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter), up from $ 285 million Dollar in December 2019 funding of Series E.
Existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Growth Fund and Vertex Ventures also took part in the new round, and some early investors sold some of their shares.
Licious runs an e-commerce platform of the same name that sells meat and seafood in over a dozen Indian cities. The startup has built a supply chain network in several Indian cities to source meat and seafood, keep it fresh and deliver it within hours of ordering.
Over the past few months, the startup says it has accelerated its growth as people increase their protein intake to improve their immunity.
Exact numbers were not disclosed, but the startup had grown 500% over the past 12 months and served more than 2 million individual customers.
“This is just the beginning of our quest to build an exemplary and iconic technology-driven direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand,” said Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura in a joint statement on Friday.
According to industry estimates, India’s online meat market is valued at over $ 4.4 billion and has grown more than 2.5-fold since the pandemic broke out last year.
Licious, which competes with FreshToHome, plans to use the fresh capital to expand into “multiple regions” without identifying a market. The startup is also investing to expand its technology and supply chain networks, it said.
The startup’s co-founders “revolutionized the way poultry, seafood and meat are bought in the country, wowing customers with their promise of quality, freshness and on-time delivery,” said Sridhar Sankararaman, MD, Multiples.