Licious, a Bengaluru-based meat delivery startup, revealed that its losses decreased by 44% to INR 293.77 crore in FY24 from INR 528.5 crore the previous year. In addition, its revenue fell by 8.4% to INR 685.05 crore from INR 748 crore in FY23.
Decline in sales on Dunzo and Swiggy Meatstore contributes to Loss
According to INC42, the startup said its revenue drop is due to stopping sales on Dunzo and Swiggy Meatstore, and reducing its presence in modern trade and local stores. The D2C brand makes money by selling meat, seafood, cold-cuts, and ready-to-eat meat items online.
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However, Licious said the revenue drop was balanced by a 35% year-on-year growth in quick commerce deliveries. Due to high demand for fast deliveries, the startup is testing 30-minute meat deliveries in Gurugram and moving to a full-stack D2C model. They also mentioned that 85% of their revenue came from their own app and they deliver meat to 1.2 million consumers monthly through it.
Licious acquires My Chicken to expand offline presence
Additionally, Licious plans to expand its offline store network aggressively. They recently acquired Bengaluru-based retailer My Chicken and More, increasing their offline retail points to 26. Although the financial details were not disclosed, Licious said the acquisition will add 23 more stores to its network, expanding its offline presence.
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With its offline expansion, the startup expects to break even or become profitable this financial year. In FY23, the D2C startup’s EBITDA margin was -58.9%.
Meanwhile, Licious co-founders Ajay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta released a statement saying, “We are now focused on building a full-stack distribution operation through an omnichannel strategy. Last year has been a transition, with short-term impacts from strategic adjustments. However, we expect to see the positive results of these choices by the end of FY25.”
Notably, Licious let go of about 80 employees in FY24 as part of a restructuring exercise.
