Bangalore, India-based e-commerce food startup Licious has raised USD 52 million (EUR 45 million) in a Series G fundraising round to support its expansion, The Economic Times reported on 5 October, citing Licious’ co-founder Vivek Gupta.
The round – led by IIFL’s Late Stage Tech Fund and Avendus – has helped raise Licious’ valuation to USD 1.05 billion (EUR 908.3 million) and put it into a group of start-ups with valuations of more than USD 1 billion (EUR 865 million) in India.
“We will use these funds to grow our offline business, further our ready-to-eat product portfolio, and for our geographic expansion,” Gupta said, adding that Licious is looking to acquire smaller businesses in ancillary areas of e-commerce for further expansion.
In its Series F fundraising round in July this year, Licious raised USD 192 million (EUR 166 million) from investment firm Temasek from Singapore, India-based Multiples Private Equity, and a number of other investors to invest in technology-based supply-chain transformation, quality enhancement, and customer experience improvement along with domestic and international expansion schemes.
Licious’s revenue has grown by about 60 percent since the Series F fundraising round and is now at INR 10 billion (USD 133.7 million, EUR 115.7 million). The company expects its revenue will reach INR 15 billion (USD 200.6 million, EUR 173.6 million) by the end of this financial year, according to Gupta.
Founded in 2015, Licious now operates in 14 cities, including Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh. It operates on a farm-to-fork model and began to sell its ready-to-eat products in early 2020. The company has reported a growth of more than 500 percent over the past two years and now serves more than two million customers across the country.
Licious’ biggest competitor is FreshToHome, which raised USD 121 million (EUR 104.7 million) in Series C funding to aid its expansion plan in October 2020. Other competitors include Zapfresh, BBDaily, MeatRoot, and Easymeat.
Photo courtesy of Licious
