Licious, the fresh meat and seafood delivery unicorn, is ramping up its talent acquisition efforts as it aims for profitability and prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) within the next 24 months.
Delightful Gourmet, the parent company of Licious, has appointed Karishma Gupta, as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Her appointment fits in with Licious’ omnichannel growth strategy for profitable growth.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company aims to establish more than 500 Licious outlets across 20 cities within the next five years. Their goal is to achieve operational profitability by the end of the current financial year (2024-25).
Her role will be pivotal in nurturing sustainable growth and profitability, setting up governance frameworks, and implementing crucial standard operating procedures as Licious transitions into a pre-IPO phase.
“Our intention is to launch 500 stores within the upcoming five years. While it’s premature to specify hiring figures, we’ll be scouting for individuals possessing essential skills and specialized expertise,” stated a spokesperson for the company.
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“The prerequisites comprise a nuanced hyperlocal comprehension, sharp insights to recognize consumer demands in crucial catchment zones for new stores, along with a deep understanding of primary differentiators and synergies between online and offline environments,” the spokesperson elaborated.
As a chartered accountant, she contributes more than 18 years of varied finance experience to Licious. Her skills encompass business collaboration, supply chain finance, governance, financial planning and analysis, auditing, and controllership.
Having served in leadership capacities within multinational and Indian firms, she boasts a demonstrable history of rejuvenating business performance, financial administration, and overseeing mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to her tenure at Licious, she led the charge in implementing expansion and revitalization strategies across various brands and regions for Jubilant FoodWorks.
Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, the co-founders of Licious, underscored the company’s robust financial standing, noting a nearly 20 percent annual revenue growth of $100 million last year. They pointed out the company’s shift from a loss margin to a gross margin of nearly 30 percent, along with an 80 percent decrease in burn rate.
Gupta and Hanjura emphasized, “Our primary focuses as we move forward into the next phase of our journey are maintaining financial health, fostering sustainable growth, driving innovation, and establishing robust financial frameworks.” They expressed confidence that Karishma’s extensive experience with prominent players in related industries, especially her retail acumen aligning with their omnichannel strategy, will prove immensely beneficial.
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In her earlier career, she held roles at Diageo, GSK Consumer Healthcare, and ITC. Notably, she stands as one of the youngest female CFOs in India, a significant milestone given that only 50 out of the 2,328 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange have women serving in this capacity.
“We are in a phase where there will be a strong push for swift expansion,” she said. “We will go through a transformative journey over the next few years towards the next phase of innovation-led business growth, even though we already have best-in-class finance structures and governance.”
Licious’ Expansion and Financial Performance
Licious caters to consumers in more than 20 Indian cities, handling 1.2 million orders monthly, with over 90 percent repeat consumption across all markets. The company boasts a workforce of over 6,000 team members spanning various disciplines and functions.
The company has set aside approximately $100 million for the expansion of its stores. They are also planning to conduct a pre-IPO funding round at some point in 2026.
With an impressive annual revenue run rate of INR 850 crore, the company has seen a significant uptick in monthly revenue, climbing from INR 60 crore to approximately INR 72 crore year-on-year (Y-o-Y).
The platform anticipates reaching a revenue run rate of INR 1,200 crore by March 2025, reflecting a monthly revenue run rate of INR 100 crore. Out of this, INR 90 crore could stem from the app, with the remaining portion generated by the new retail stores.
On a year-on-year basis, the monthly cash burn has decreased to approximately INR 12 crore from INR 26 crore. The company aims to further slash this figure to about INR 10 crore. Sources indicate that gross margins have surged to 30 per cent.
In 2022-23, the company recorded a 9 per cent year-on-year revenue growth, reaching INR 748 crore. Meanwhile, the loss for the year decreased by approximately 38 per cent to INR 529 crore.
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