India's Licious secures $52m Series G

The round, which values the company at $1 billion, was led by IIFL Asset Management's Late-Stage Tech Fund, with participation from Avendus Capital's Future Leaders Fund.

Various financial services companies have launched growth funds under their wealth management units to participate in India's pre-IPO boom. Others include Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, and Edelweiss Group.

Licious closed its Series F as recently as three months ago with $192 million in commitments. Temasek Holdings and Multiples Alternate Asset Management took the lead. They were joined by Brunei Investment Agency, 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, and two Vertex Ventures entities – the growth investment arm and the dedicated Southeast Asia and India unit

The company has now raised more than $330 million since it was founded by Vivek Gupta and Abhay Havnjura in 2015.

Licious sources products directly from farmers and distributes them to end-consumers via platforms such as BigBasket and Amazon. It operates across 14 cities, completing over one million orders every month. The company, which has served more than two million customers to date, claims to have seen growth of more than 500% in the past year.

There is an emphasis on quality, hygiene, freshness, and convenience, based on the company controlling its entire supply chain, from procurement through last-mile delivery.

Farm-direct meats are delivered to a central processing center by 4 a.m. every day and packed by 7 a.m. at several dozen distribution centers. Anything that isn't sold is discarded. Every step of the supply chain maintains a temperature below 4 degrees centigrade, including specially refrigerated delivery scooters.

Licious has ambitions to expand overseas. This has already been achieved by FreshToHome, which now relies on the United Arab Emirates for around 20% of its revenue. The company – a fish specialist, while Licious is said to focus more on chicken – claims to be the largest fully integrated online brand in fresh fish and meat e-commerce globally. It closed a $121 million Series C last year.

"Vivek and Abhay have demonstrated high levels of customer-centricity and an unparalleled focus on supply chain necessary for a perishable product. Licious' focus on product quality, freshness, and innovation has created a strong brand, making them the undisputed category leader," said Chetan Naik, who manages IIFL's Late-Stage Tech Fund.

"Today, Licious is amongst the fastest-growing D2C brands and is one of the few consumer businesses in India with very strong revenue retention metrics."

Licious first received backing from 3one4 and Mayfield India in 2016. They re-upped for the $10 million Series B a year later, which saw the entry of Sistema Asia Fund and Neoplux Capital. The Series C and D rounds – each worth $25 million – closed in 2018. Existing investors were joined by Bertelsmann, InnoVen Capital, Vertex, the UCLA endowment, and Japanese conglomerate Nichirei.

Vertex Growth led the $30 million Series E in late 2019 with participation from 3one4, Bertelsmann, and Sistema.

Avendus Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor to Licious on the Series G round.

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