Japan’s Nichirei, Vertex Ventures, Sistema Asia join fresh meat brand Licious’s US$25M funding
Licious follows a farm to fork business model, owning the entire back-end supply chain
Licious Co-founders Abhay Hanjura (L) and Vivek Gupta
Licious, an online meat marketplace run by Bangalore-based Delightful Gourmet, has announced that it has raised US$25 million in a Series D growth round of funding, led by Nichirei Corp, a public-listed food company in Japan.
Existing investors 3one4 Capital (Bangalore), Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, UCLA, and Sistema Asia Fund (Singapore) also joined the round.
The funds will be used to open operations across seven cities, including Mumbai, Pune and Chennai. The money will also go into strengthening Licious’s market presence, expand value-added product portfolio, and supply chain.
“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,” Licious Co-founders Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta said in a joint statement.
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Founded in July 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Gupta, Licious aims to solve the problem of finding safe, delectable, trustworthy fresh meat in India. The platform has listed items, including fresh juicy tender chicken, succulent lamb chops, and the day’s catch of fresh seafood.
Licious follows a farm to fork business model, owning the entire back-end supply chain. The company claims to have employed 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.
In March last year, Licious secured US$10 million in Series B funding round led by existing investors Mayfield India and 3one4 Capital. Russia-based Sistema Asia Fund and South Korean VC firm Neoplux Technology Fund also joined the round.
Licious has previously raised US$3.5 million in Series A funding from 3one4 Capital and Mayfield Capital in April last year. This was preceded by a angel funding round at the time of launch.
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