INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
(R-L) Abhay Hanjura, Vivek Gupta, Co-founders, Licious3 min read Last Updated : Aug 20 2024 | 12:32 PM IST
After establishing itself as a
leader in the online meat and seafood market, Licious, a direct-to-consumer (D2C) unicorn, is now shifting its focus to offline expansion
The Bengaluru-based company plans to open 25 offline stores by the end of the current financial year 2024-25, co-founders Vivek Gupta and
Abhay Hanjura told The Financial Express (FE)
Most of its initial stores will be based in Bengaluru and once the model proves profitable, Licious aims to accelerate its expansion,
opening 70 to 100 stores annually.
Licious currently operates only one offline store and plans to open its second by the end of this
While the company has experimented with experience stores that offer food, the focus will remain on meat stores, where consumers can
purchase customised meat and seafood
This decision is based on the positive response to the meat store format compared to the experience stores.
Online sales will continue to
dominate Licious: Hanjura
Despite the offline push, Licious remains committed to its online platform, where over 80 per cent of its sales
The remaining sales come from marketplaces and quick commerce platforms
emphasised that while online sales will continue to dominate in the near term, offline channels will become increasingly significant in the
encourage online shopping
offline presence in Bengaluru before expanding to cities like Chennai and Mumbai
As part of this strategy, Licious is exploring acquisitions of smaller offline meat chains that are profitable but lack the capital to
Discussions are ongoing, but no deals have been finalised yet.
Licious IPO prep and plans for profitability
As Licious aims for
profitability and greater scale, offline expansion has become a key focus area
The company reported an annual run rate (ARR) of Rs 950 crore as of June 2024, up from Rs 770 crore in June 2023
Licious targets an ARR of Rs 1,200 crore and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) profitability by the
end of FY25.
Licious, backed by investors like Temasek, Multiples, and 3one4 Capital, raised $150 million in March 2022 in an extended
Series F-round led by Amansa Capital
With plans to launch over 500 stores across 20 cities in the next five years, Licious is also gearing up for an initial public offering
(IPO) within the next 24 months as it intensifies its talent acquisition efforts and works towards achieving operating profit by the end of
