Zerodha founders, BoAt’s Aman Gupta and others invest $150 million in Licious

• Licious — which sells meat and seafood online — on Tuesday announced that it has raised $150 million.
• Though the company has not revealed its valuation, it claims to be the most valued direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup in India.
• A direct-to-consumer brand is a company that sells its products directly to customers without relying on third parties in a big way.

Licious — which sells meat and seafood online — on Tuesday announced that it has raised $150 million. The Series F2 round was led by Singapore-based Amansa Capital, along with Kotak PE and Axis Growth Avenues AIF - I.

Zerodha’s founders Nithin and Nikhil Kamath, BoAt’s cofounder Aman Gupta and True North’s partner Haresh Chawla also participated in the round. Avendus acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Licious for the transaction.

Though the company has not revealed its valuation, it claims to be the most valued direct-to-consumer (D2C) startup in India. There are currently only two D2C unicorns in India — Mamaearth and Licious. Mensa Brands made it to the club too but it is a house of D2C brands, meaning they will acquire smaller D2C brands and scale them further.

“This valuation is a direct outcome of the value that we have created for our stakeholders – investments made towards building the category have borne us rich dividends and have propelled growth for the company and its people. The growing interest of investors – from India and abroad alike is an added assurance that obsession with customers, quality and service standards are the pillars of the best businesses,” Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, cofounders of Licious, said in a statement.

A direct-to-consumer brand is a company that sells its products directly to customers without relying on third parties in a big way. A more traditional retailer follows a longer chain to provide a product to customers — manufacturer/producer> to a wholesaler> to a distributor> to a retailer > to customer.

The development comes only six months after Licious made its entry into the unicorn club with a billion dollar valuation. The company had raised $52 million in October 2021 in a round led by IIFL AMC’s Late Stage Tech Fund.

Licious was founded by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta about six years ago. The company works on a farm-to-folk business model, which means that it owns the entire supply chain from sourcing to selling. The company has created a robust cold chain control system to maintain the quality of its products from procurement, processing to storage.

The company specialises in chicken, goat, lamb and pork meat, among others. It also offers fish and seafood products, along with exotic meat varieties like turkey, blue crab and more.

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