Licious company profile: valuation, funding & revenue

This Licious company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Licious works in consumer, with a focus on direct-to-consumer meat and seafood. It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Its latest valuation on record is About US$1.5 billion (2023). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.

Revenue

Funding history

Licious timeline

Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.

• 2015 — Licious is founded in Bengaluru by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta.
• 2023 — Equity round: See source, valuing the company at About US$1.5B.
• February 2025 — IPO target: Reported to target a valuation above US$2 billion in an Indian IPO.

Investors

Overview

Licious sells fresh meat and seafood directly to consumers in India through its app, website, quick-commerce partners and a growing network of physical stores. It controls the supply chain from sourcing through processing, cold storage and delivery, aiming to give customers consistent quality, hygiene and traceability in a category that has traditionally been dominated by local butchers and wet markets. It also sells marinated products, ready-to-cook items, spreads and snacks. Licious became India's first direct-to-consumer (D2C) unicorn in 2021 and is preparing for a public listing.

Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta founded Licious in Bengaluru in 2015. Both founders were frustrated by the difficulty of buying reliable, hygienic meat in Indian cities. They built Licious around central processing facilities with strict quality controls and a cold chain that keeps products fresh until delivery.

Business model

Licious buys meat and fish from farmers, fishermen and suppliers, processes and packs it in its own facilities, and sells it at prices that include a premium for quality and convenience. Because it controls the whole chain, it can set standards for freshness, cuts and packaging, and reduce waste through demand forecasting. Revenue comes from orders through its own app and website, sales on quick-commerce platforms, and offline stores. The company doesn't publish full audited financials in our sources, so we show revenue as not disclosed.

Funding

Licious has raised from investors including Temasek, Vertex Ventures, Bertelsmann Investments, 3one4 Capital, Avendus Capital, Kotak PE, Axis Growth Avenues, Multiples and Amansa. It reached a US$1 billion valuation in 2021 and was valued at about US$1.5 billion in its last reported funding in 2023. In February 2025, reports said it was preparing an Indian IPO targeting a valuation above US$2 billion, with a listing expected in 2026. Data cited in reports showed its losses narrowing sharply in fiscal 2024 as it focused on profitability.

Competition

Licious competes with FreshToHome, a similar D2C fish and meat brand; with quick-commerce platforms such as Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto, which sell meat through partners; with local butchers and markets that remain the main source for most consumers; and with supermarket chains. Its advantages are its brand, quality standards and control of the supply chain.

Licious at a glance

Licious is a Bengaluru direct-to-consumer meat and seafood brand founded in 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta. It controls sourcing, processing and delivery and sells online, through quick-commerce partners and in stores. It became India's first D2C unicorn in 2021, was valued at about US$1.5 billion in 2023, and was reported in 2025 to target a valuation above US$2 billion in an IPO.

Timeline

• 2015: founded in Bengaluru.
• 2016–2020: expands to major Indian cities and builds processing centres and cold chain.
• 2021: becomes India's first D2C unicorn.
• 2023: valued at about US$1.5 billion in its last reported round.
• 2024–2025: narrows losses, expands offline stores and quick-commerce sales, and prepares for an IPO.

Why meat is a hard category for e-commerce

Fresh meat and fish are perishable, require temperature control at every step and are subject to food safety rules. Consumers are particular about cuts, freshness and sourcing, and many prefer to see products before buying. Demand varies by day, festival and religion, making forecasting complex. Waste directly reduces margins. These challenges explain why most of India's meat market remains unorganised, and also why a company that solves them can build a defensible brand.

The quick-commerce effect

India's quick-commerce boom, with apps promising groceries in ten minutes, has changed how urban consumers shop for food. For Licious, quick-commerce platforms are both a sales channel and a competitive threat: they bring access to more customers, but they also promote their own or rival meat products and take a commission. Licious has responded by selling through these platforms while also improving its own delivery speed and expanding physical stores.

D2C brands and Indian IPOs

Several Indian consumer brands, including Mamaearth's parent Honasa Consumer and Lenskart, have listed on Indian exchanges, testing public market appetite for D2C businesses. Investors look for profitability, repeat purchase rates, brand strength and efficient marketing spend. Licious's IPO would be closely watched as a test for food-focused D2C companies. Our guide to the largest Indian startups gives wider context.

Questions for analysts

• How profitable are online, quick-commerce and offline channels respectively?
• How loyal are customers, and how often do they reorder?
• How much does waste and cold-chain cost per order?

Building a cold chain

Licious has invested in processing centres where meat and fish are cleaned, cut and packed under controlled conditions, and in refrigerated storage and delivery. Products are kept within strict temperature ranges from processing to the customer's door, which is essential for food safety and quality. Building this infrastructure is expensive and takes years, but it also creates a barrier for competitors. Licious has said it uses data to forecast demand by neighbourhood and time, so it can keep stocks fresh while reducing waste.

Products beyond fresh meat

To raise order values and margins, Licious has added marinated meats, ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products, kebabs, spreads, cold cuts and snacks. These products typically earn higher margins than raw meat and help differentiate the brand, since customers can't easily buy the same items at local butchers. Expanding into these categories also supports its offline stores and quick-commerce sales.

Risks

• Food safety: any contamination incident could damage trust in the brand.
• Input costs: prices of chicken, mutton and fish fluctuate with feed costs, weather and seasons.
• Channel conflict: quick-commerce platforms are both partners and competitors.
• IPO timing: market conditions could delay or change listing plans.

Licious and the organised meat market

Only a small share of India's meat and seafood is sold through organised, branded channels; most is sold fresh by local butchers and fish markets. As incomes rise and urban consumers become more focused on hygiene and convenience, the organised share is expected to grow, which is the long-term opportunity Licious is betting on.

Latest developments (October 2026)

Licious said in April 2026 that its net revenue for FY26 rose 47% to ₹1,166 crore and that it aims for ₹1,800 crore in FY27, while keeping an IPO in its plans, according to Storyboard18. We found no draft prospectus by October 2026. Its 2023 valuation of about US$1.5 billion remains the latest figure.

What to watch

Watch for a draft prospectus filing, IPO valuation, profitability, offline store growth and competition from quick-commerce platforms.

Takeaways

Consumers can buy traceable, hygienically processed meat and seafood. Founders can learn from building a brand in an unorganised category. Investors should compare the IPO valuation with the 2023 private mark and profitability trends.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.

1. Inc42
2. Business Standard