Licious Raises $25 Million Investment Led By Japan’s Nichirei Corp In Series-D Round Of Funding; Existing Investors Also Participated In The Round

Licious, India’s leading fresh meat and seafood brand, today announced that it has raised $25 million in a Series-D growth round led by one of Japan’s largest public listed conglomerate Nichirei Corp, along with existing investors 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, UCLA, Sistema Asia Fund. With plans of opening operations in the new year across 7 cities including Mumbai, Pune and Chennai, the funds will be used to further strengthen Licious’ dominant market presence, portfolio of value-added product portfolio and world-class supply chain.With a vision to disrupt the highly underserved meat and seafood market, which is estimated at $40 billion today, Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta started Licious as a category-first brand backed by technology. Since its inception in 2015, Licious has been able to solve the prevailing customer pain points of quality, hygiene, freshness and convenience when it comes to purchasing meat and seafood, in a sustainable manner. Licious is built on the farm to fork business model, owning the entire back-end supply chain powered by stringent cold chain control to maintain the quality and freshness of each product from the time of procurement, processing, storage to the time it reaches the end consumer.
“The confidence we continue to receive from our new and existing investors fortifies our unstinting commitment to offer world-class quality meat and seafood to our customers every time. Building a transformational and category leading food brand in an extremely complex environment requires conviction and inventive thinking, and we are glad we are on the right path. These funds will greatly aid our vision to build an Indian food brand with a global outlook.” said Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, co-founders, Licious.
“Safety and Quality has always been the cornerstone for Nichirei since its inception and it is wonderful to share the same philosophy with Licious. With our individual experiences and business know-how, Nichirei and Licious can create beautiful synergy in future.” said spokesperson at Nichirei Corp.
“With Nichirei Corp, we are excited to have a strong partner which will help build next generation cold supply chain and other innovations in the food category. The investment is a testimonial to Vivek and Abhay’s vision and passion to build India’s No. 1 fresh food brand”, said Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director, Bertelsmann India Investments.
Earlier this year, Licious witnessed accelerated growth in terms of reach, accessibility and product innovation. From introducing a robust range of valued-added products to its fresh meat and seafood portfolio with spreads, marinades and pickles, to becoming the only meat and seafood brand from India to be certified with FSSC22000, one of the highest food safety certifications in the world, the company is extremely bullish about continuing to innovate and bring some of the most inventive products for its growing consumer base.
Licious continues to enjoy 90% repeat business monthly, even with its exponential growth, which is testament to the brands product excellence and customer happiness.