Let us talk about unicorn startups. A unicorn startup is the one the value of which is more than USD 1 billion. According to an estimate made, a business just has a 0.00006% chance of becoming a unicorn and it takes an average of seven years for a startup to become a unicorn. But nowadays we have heard that one of the startups named Apna became a unicorn within 21 months of the registration.
According to a count made, there are 544 unicorns available in the world. India in the year 2020 had seen very few startups turning unicorn because of the national lockdown imposed. But now with the restrictions reduced and removed to an extent, India, this year, i.e. 2021 has seen a large rise in the number of unicorn startups. Till the month of October only, it has seen 28 unicorn startups coming up, and now we are here to discuss the 29th unicorn startup which has come up.
About 29th unicorn startup
The startup, Licious, has raised a funding of USD 52 million, which is equivalent to INR 388 crore, as announced on October 05, 2021. This round of funding was led by the private equity fund of IIFL Asset Management Ltd. Post this round of funding, the value of the startup has increased to more than USD 1 billion, which is equivalent to INR 7,454 crore, thus it has reserved its place in the Golden Unicorn Club. It is the 29th unicorn of the year and the first unicorn in the D2C segment.
Prior to this round of funding, the startup had raised USD 192 million, which is equivalent to INR 1,431 crore, two months before. That round of funding was led by Temasek and Multiple Private Equity. The total funds raised by the startup have come to USD 338.5 million. The startup plans to use the funds raised in doubling down on the investments in various lines like- technology for supply chain excellence, product innovation, talent, and vendor partner upgrades.
About the newly turned unicorn
The startup, Licious, was founded in the year 2015 by Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura.With headquarters in Bengaluru, Licious is an online meat delivery startup. It works ona farm to fork model and owns the entire abc end supply chain and the cold chain.
The application of the startup has a separate recipe sector that helps the customers in cooking delicious and exotic dishes.The team of the startup is a huge meat lover and is extremely picky when it comes to choosing meat for the customers. It chooses lambs between 8 and 12 months old, and chickens of weight 1 and 1.2 kg. It has direct sources to deliver the seafood.
The vision of the startup is “Lucious exists because we deserve better meat”. The mission of the startup is “Licians will build the most loved meat brand by delighting the world with an unmatched range of meat and meat products”.
The startup names itself THE LICIANS, which stands for-
T- Togetherness- The startup partners with other teams and comes together for the larger purpose of Licious. It is also engaged in collaborating and breaking the silos.
H- Humility- The startup believes in respecting the point of view of others and empathizing, seeking feedback, and evolving.
E- Excellence- The startup is of the belief that no compromise should be made on quality and to be best in kind.
L- Laugh- The startup is of the belief that one should always laugh and have a sense of humour and should spread the energy and make the world a happy place to live in.
I- Integrity- The startup believes that one should hold oneself and others to high moral and ethical standards and to be honest.
C- Cultivate- The startup encourages its employees and workers to help others while working together and nurture their careers too.
I- Innovate- The startup encourages innovation and asks its employees to anticipate change and get inspired by fearless and creative innovation, which is ahead of time by constantly adding value.
A- Ardent- The startup encourages its employees to breathe and live their aspirations, and be crazy and stay committed.
N- Nimble- The startup asks its employees to be responsive, proactive, and gracefully reactive in times of need.
S- Stalwart- The startup encourages its employees to think wild and be ready to take risks as it says that they can succeed by working on their bigger dreams. It motivates them to choose the path less travelled by.
According to the startup, more than 95% of the fresh meat and seafood industry in the country is disorganized. The usual picture which comes up of the meat and the fish market is filthy and unpleasant buying experience.
The startup is there in the market to change the experience of Indians with respect to meat and fish. The startup operates across Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Pondicherry, Jaipur, Kochi, Vizag, Kolkata, and Vijaywada. It has more than 3500 employees and claims to deliver the order within 90-120 minutes. According to the startup, it processes more than one million orders every month.
It has a customer base of more than 1 million unique customers and the average basket size is worth INR 700. It had earned a revenue of INR 180 crores in the FY 2019-2020. The repeat purchase rate of the unicorn startup is 90% and has seen a growth of 500% in the past year. It has delivered across 2 million orders till date and the average basket size has also grown by 30%.
About the founders of the startup
The founders of the startup are Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura.
Vivek Gupta is the co-foudner of the startup, Lucious. He is a Bcom graduate from Punjab University and then became a Chartered Accountant (CA). He started his career as a Corporate Finance Manager of Tavant Technologies. He has been the Finance Controller of Helion Ventures and the Non Executive Director of MobiCom Commune Pvt Ltd.
Abhay Hanjura is also the co-founder of the startup, Lucious. He has been the Campus Ambassador of Infosys. He started his career as a Deputy Manager at India Insure Risk Management Services. He has also been the head of Business Intelligence and Associate Director of Futurisk Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd.
What has been said about the deal?
The founders of the startup, Licious, Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura made a collective statement saying that though the funding for direct-to-customer segment is increasing tremendously, FMCG sector is still not thought to be an attractive category. They further said that it is expected that it will change after Lucious has turned into a unicorn. They further tild that the fresh meat and seafood sector is unorganzied and underserved and has the opportunity of USD 40 billion, which is equivalent to INR 2.98 lakh crore.
The startup is working on a new line and we wish it good luck and a bright future.
Edited by Sanjana Simlai.
