Indian meat e-commerce platform Licious raises $150 million

Licious, a Bengaluru-based startup that sells fresh seafood, meat, and other fresh animal protein online, announced it had raised an additional $150 million funding from a set of late-stage investors in a move that appears to be a forerunner to the startup’s initial public offering.

Licious became India’s first direct-to-customer brand to become a unicorn in 2021. The latest financing round was led by Singapore-based Amansa Capital, Axis Growth Avenues AIF-I, and Kotak PE. Several existing investors and a new set of angel investors, including Nikhil Kamath and Nithin Kamath of Zerodha, Haresh Chawla of True North, and BoAt’s Aman Gupta, participated in the new round.

Including this round of funding, Licious has raised a total of $488 million from multiple investors.

Licious operates an eponymous e-commerce platform where it sells fresh seafood and meat in over a dozen Indian cities. The startup has built a supply chain network across several Indian cities to procure seafood and meat, keep them fresh, and deliver to customers within hours of the order.

Licious will use the funds raised through the Series F2 for investment in the technical intervention to help category development and improve the overall customer experience. The firm will also invest in the strategic acquisition and deepening and widening the brand’s reach.