“Licious Started as an Act of Craziness,” Meet the Founders of India’s First D2C Meat Unicorn Startup That Clocked₹685 Cr in Revenue in FY24

In a country where nearly 70% of the population consumes meat, buying it was long and an unpleasant ordeal. 

Soggy counters in wet markets, inconsistent quality, questionable hygiene, and a complete absence of branding defined the fresh meat experience in India.

Despite a market worth over $40 billion, no one had stepped up to organize it — until Licious entered the scene in 2015. Built on a full-stack model and a bold brand voice, Licious made meat feel premium and aspirational. 

Licious is India’s first D2C unicorn, clocking ₹685 crore+ in revenue and transforming how India consumes meat.

Meet the Founders 

Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta couldn’t have been more different on paper.

Abhay, a meat-loving Kashmiri, started his career in insurance with Bajaj Allianz and later worked at India Insure and Futurisk, where he rose to become Head of Business Intelligence. Despite a stable career, he quit it all in 2015 to chase a bold idea - building a trustworthy meat brand in India.

Vivek, a Chartered Accountant, spent nearly nine years at Helion Ventures managing complex financial operations, M&As, and portfolio restructures. He also held leadership roles at MobiCom and Tavant Technologies. 

The Licious Origin Story 

In 2015, Abhay came to Vivek with a pitch deck titled “Pronto Meat” Vivek, a seasoned VC and investor in BigBasket at the time, wasn’t convinced. 

“All my answers were like, ‘It can’t happen. This also can’t happen. Just go away,’” Vivek recalled in a podcast.

To drive his point home, Abhay conducted a little social experiment. He invited Vivek over for lunch. When the food delivery guy rang the doorbell, he handed Vivek a soan papdi box filled with mutton - leaking from the corner and ruining Vivek’s expensive VC clothes.

Furious, Vivek yelled in "very unparliamentary words",

“What is this, brother?!” to which Abhay cheekily replied, “You tell me — it’s your company!”

That incident stuck. Vivek later checked the data and noticed something odd — the so-called meat category in his portfolio company’s numbers was practically non-existent.

“Abhay’s pitch said India consumes $25–30 billion worth of meat. That lit up the VC in me,” said Vivek.

What sealed the deal wasn’t just market size - it was the trust. 

“The market was huge, the problem was painful, and there was an opportunity to build with someone I loved spending time with,” Vivek said. 

“We both resigned on the same day - March 19, 2015 and never looked back,” said Abhay. 

Their Journey

In 2015, Licious started in a modest 3,000 sq. ft. unit in Bangalore with just 100 daily orders. But what they lacked in infrastructure, they made up for in obsession. They refused to outsource the tough stuff. Instead, they built the entire supply chain from scratch — sourcing, processing, cold-chain, and delivery.

“Licious is an act of craziness first, and then a deep commitment to something simple,” said Abhay.

They weren’t just building a company - they were unlearning how India thought about meat. They trained butchers, worked with farmers, set up ISO-certified facilities, and launched with a promise: never frozen, always fresh.

By 2021, they were processing 20,000+ daily orders. Trust was the real currency they earned.

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Introducing Licious (The Brand & Its Products)

Licious isn’t just another delivery app — it’s a reimagination of how meat should be experienced in India. 

From the start, the brand set out to challenge everything consumers had come to accept: leaky polybags, unhygienic butcher shops, and unpredictable quality. Instead, they built a premium, full-stack brand designed to make meat shopping feel effortless, trustworthy, and even delightful.

Their product range covers everything you’d want in a kitchen that loves meat:

• Fresh cuts of chicken, mutton, and seafood

• Ready-to-cook marinades, kebabs, and tandoori-style mixes

• Cold cuts and creamy spreads

• Eggs and breakfast meats for those rushed mornings

But it’s not just about what they offer,  it’s how they do it.

What truly sets Licious apart isn’t just variety — it’s their unflinching commitment to quality and hygiene:

• Never frozen — everything is freshly cut and packed on order

• Ethically sourced from certified, biosecure farms

• Processed in ISO-certified units with minimal human contact

• Delivered within 24–36 hours, maintaining cold-chain integrity throughout
  

“Why should one category be sold in blood, gore, and stink when every other category has been modernized?” asked Abhay.

Piloting in Bangalore

Bangalore wasn’t just a launchpad for Licious - it’s where they learned, failed fast, and built muscle.

With its tech-savvy crowd and high meat consumption, the city was the perfect testing ground. But that also meant expectations were high. Customers here didn’t hold back if something went wrong and that’s exactly what Licious needed.

“Bangalore became our living lab. We broke things here. We fixed things here. We got yelled at by customers here — and we earned their trust here,” Abhay shared.

The team personally tracked orders, tweaked packaging, responded to feedback in real-time, and fine-tuned logistics until they hit 1,000+ orders a day. Only then did they feel ready to expand into Hyderabad and NCR.

“Bangalore was our rehearsal. India was the show.” the founders shared. 

Cracking Scale, One City at a Time

After mastering the Bangalore playbook, Licious didn’t rush. They chose depth over speed.

Expansion wasn’t about dropping pins on a map — it was about replicating control. Each new city meant rebuilding the supply chain: vetting farms, setting up ISO-grade units, hiring local teams, and calibrating cold-chain logistics all over again.

“We didn’t enter Hyderabad with a launch party. We entered with boots on the ground,” Vivek shared.

Early cities like Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR taught them how regional meat preferences shaped demand. In the South, mutton ruled. In Delhi, chicken reigned. And in Bengal, fish wasn’t a side, it was sacred.

Licious didn’t fight this diversity — they embraced it. Their operations became hyper-local, but the promise stayed the same: clean, fresh, no-nonsense meat.

Challenges Faced

From day one, Abhay and Vivek were up against deeply ingrained cultural taboos around meat. 

Many households preferred silence over celebration when it came to chicken and mutton and investors were no different.

“People didn’t even want the word ‘meat’ in their pitch decks,” said Vivek.

Then there was the real, physical grind, setting up cold-chain infrastructure in a country that had almost none. Every part of the process had to be built from scratch, which meant high burn and sleepless nights.

At one point, things got critical. Licious had just 15 days of cash left. A key investor backed out, and the founders had to dip into their own savings to pay salaries.

“There wasn’t even a discussion,” said Abhay. “These people showed up for us — we had to show up for them.”

But through it all, they stuck to one golden rule:

“Salaries will always go out on time. No matter what.”

These weren’t just startup hurdles, they were make-or-break moments. And Licious met each one head-on.

Also Read:Meet the Founder Who Left His Family’s Legacy to Build a Guilt-free Ice Cream Brand that Clocked Rs 100 Cr in ARR

Building the Supply Chain from Scratch 

Behind every juicy kebab or perfectly marinated fillet on Licious lies a supply chain that’s borderline obsessive. 

For the founders, freshness wasn’t a feature - it was the foundation.

Every product starts at biosecure farms, with vet-certified livestock and ethical sourcing practices. Once the meat enters Licious facilities, it’s processed in automated, sterile, ISO-certified units, a far cry from India’s chaotic wet markets.

The cold chain? Unbroken. 

Custom-designed vans maintain the chill from factory to front door, with strict timelines and service-level guarantees. In metros, they commit to delivering within 120 minutes.

From slaughter to doorstep, the temperature is controlled with military precision to preserve freshness. Even the packaging is leak-proof, eco-conscious, and as social media would show — very Instagrammable.

“Fresh meat has a 48-hour clock. We never fight time. We work with it,” said Vivek.

It’s not just meat. It’s a science, a system, and a promise that what you eat has been cared for at every step.

Marketing Strategies

Licious didn’t shy away from selling meat — they embraced it with personality.

Their campaigns were bold and playful. From “Chick This Out” to “Meat the love of your life,” they turned heads  and made people smile.

They also showed up during key cultural moments — launching festive specials around Christmas, Eid, Durga Puja —knowing meat is often at the center of celebration.

Beyond ads, they focused on useful content. Recipe videos, chef partnerships, and influencer collabs helped customers cook better, not just buy more.

“We didn’t want to whisper meat. We wanted to celebrate it,” said Abhay.

They made meat feel normal, premium, and even joyful — and that changed everything.

Funding Raised

Licious has raised $554M+ across 11 funding rounds, backed by a mix of early believers and global heavyweights.

Key Milestones

• Early Backers: Mayfield, 3one4 Capital — believed in the vision when it was still just an idea (and a leaky soan papdi box).

• Series F (2021): $192M led by Temasek and Multiples PE, pushing Licious into unicorn territory.

• Unicorn Status:Achieved in October 2021 — becoming India’s first D2C unicorn in the fresh meat space.

Despite being in a complex category, Licious has consistently attracted capital by owning the full stack and betting on quality — not discounting. 

Also Read: Meet the Husband-Wife Duo Who Built Dot & Key, an Indian Skincare Brand That Clocked Rs 198 Cr Revenue in FY24

Revenue & Financials

Licious started out chasing scale—and it worked. But in recent years, they’ve shifted gears toward smarter, more sustainable growth.

• FY22: ₹682.5 crore riding the wave of post-COVID demand, with a strong run rate over ₹1,000 crore.

• FY23:₹748 crore modest growth (+9.6%) but high burn. Losses peaked at ₹528.5 crore.

• FY24: ₹685 crore revenue dipped ~8%, but losses dropped sharply to ₹294 crore (a 44% cut).

Why the dip? Licious deliberately pulled back from modern trade and third-party platforms (like Dunzo and Swiggy’s meat store) to double down on their own app. It was less flashy, but more profitable.

“What people call premium is just the cost of doing quality right. ₹50 per kg extra isn’t premium — it’s the cost of dignity and hygiene.” adds Vivek. 

Cutting Burn, Growing Control

• 85% of FY24 revenue came through Licious’s own platform, not external partners.

• Quick commerce partnerships (Blinkit, Instamart, Zepto) are now key growth levers—up ~35% YoY.

• Their loyalty program, Infiniti, now drives 58% of all purchases.

“We’re working toward EBITDA-positive by FY25,” said co-founder Vivek Gupta.

Despite bumps, Licious is cleaning up its books and tightening its model—with profitability in sight for the first time.

Omnichannel & Offline Push

To win the meat market, Licious is going offline — and doing it fast.

Starting in Bengaluru, the brand plans to open 25 physical stores by FY25 and expand into Chennai and Mumbai soon after. 

These outlets will double as both customer experience zones and micro-fulfillment hubs. 

• Walk in, ask questions, and explore

• Pick up their orders faster

• Discover the Licious brand up close

Licious is also eyeing acquisitions of smaller regional meat chains to deepen its footprint.

As of mid-2025, five stores are already operational in Bengaluru. Another 35–40 are in the pipeline, with a five-year plan to launch 500 stores across India.

“Offline isn’t a pivot. It’s an evolution,” said Vivek.

Celebrating a Decade: #10YearsOfLicious

In 2025, Licious marked 10 years of changing how India thinks about meat — once an unorganized, taboo space.

In an emotional post, co-founder Abhay Hanjura wrote:

“Licious was never built in meeting rooms. It was born in chaos, built with guts and grown with grace. We've been laughed at, written off, and rejected more times than I can count. But we showed up every single day — for our people, our customers, and our mission.”

Vivek Gupta added:

“We didn’t come from the meat industry. We weren’t chefs. But we believed that Indian meat lovers deserved better. Cleaner. Fresher. Safer. And we built it brick by brick.”

To celebrate the journey, Licious launched a campaign around their core philosophy:
“Thoda Aur.”

A little more effort. A little more care. A little more delight in every order.

From 100 orders in a small Bengaluru unit to becoming a household name, Licious is now a national benchmark for freshness, quality, and customer trust.

Also Read: How the Founder of Veeba Who Turned a Failed Restaurant Business Into a FMCG Brand that Clocked ₹1,000 Cr in Revenue

The Road Ahead

The mission hasn’t changed but the scale has.

Licious wants to take the same obsession with quality to:

• Tier 2 and beyond - where the need for clean, reliable meat is just as big

• International markets - starting with exports from India

• New formats - including plant-based proteins for conscious eaters

• Smarter systems - using AI to plan better, waste less, and serve faster

The story isn’t wrapping up — it’s just hitting its next chapter.

Author’s Note: All quotes, figures, and insights in this article have been sourced from publicly available interviews, podcasts, and published articles.