Licious Sold Meat Worth INR 748 Cr In FY23 But Growth Plateaus

Bengaluru-based meat delivery startup Licious witnessed an increase of 9.5% in its operating revenue to INR 748 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 682.5 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The D2C brand earns revenue through selling meat, seafood, cold-cuts, and ready-to-eat meat items. 

Including other income, Licious reported a total income of INR 808.8 Cr in FY23 as against INR 706.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

Meanwhile, the startup managed to decrease its net loss by over 38% to INR 528.5 Cr in FY23 from INR 855.6 Cr due to reduction in cash burn. 

Licious’ total expenses rose 9.8% to INR 1,309.2 Cr in FY23 from INR 1,191.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

The cost of procurement of meat was the biggest expenditure for Licious. In FY23, the startup spent INR 644.6 Cr on procurement, a jump of 16% from INR 554.3 Cr in the previous year. Procurement cost accounted for 49% of the startup’s total expenditure during the year under review. 

Employee benefit expenses rose 14.5% to INR 240 Cr from INR 209.5 Cr in FY22. Employee benefit expenses comprise employee salaries, PF contributions, gratuity, among others. 

The D2C brand spent INR 128.5 Cr on advertising and promotional expenses, a drop of 24% from INR 169.8 Cr in the previous financial year. D2C brands are known to splurge on advertising to increase their customer base. 

On a unit economics level, Licious spent INR 1.7 to earn every rupee from operations. Its EBITDA margin improved to -58.9% in FY23 from -115.1% in FY22. 

Founded in 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Licious entered the coveted unicorn club in 2022 after bagging $52 Mn in its Series G funding round led by IIFL AMC’s Late Stage Tech Fund and various other private equity investors.

Post this, it raised $150 Mn in March last year in a funding round led by Amansa Capital. Following this fundraise, the D2C brand forayed into the plant-based meat market by launching UnCrave.

Earlier this month, the D2C brand found itself in the news for all the wrong reasons. Media reports suggested that there was a rift between its cofounders and Licious was in the middle of raising a bridge round as it was unable to meet its monthly targets. However, later in an interview, the cofounders rejected these claims. 

Licious competes against the likes of FreshtoHome, Captain Fresh, Zapp Fresh, and TenderCuts. 

Last month, TenderCuts underwent a distress sale after failing to raise a new round of capital, while Bengaluru-based CaptainFresh has completely shifted its focus towards exports. Earlier this year, Chennai-based meat retail brand Fipola also shut operations.