Online meat and seafood seller Licious is reportedly seeking to become profitable as it prepares to list in 2026.
The Bengaluru-based firm is targeting a valuation of more than $2 Bn in the listing, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
To note the D2C unicorn was last valued at $1.5 Bn in March 2023.
Inc42 has reached out to Licious for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.
Founded in 2015 by Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, Licious is a D2C foodtech brand focused on cold-chain food deliveries, including meat. Licious functions on the farm to fork business model, meaning that the company owns the entire back-end supply chain.
It has raised $554.22 Mn in funding so far, and counts the likes of Temasek, 3One4 Capital and IIFL among its marquee investors.
In a measure towards boosting its bottomline at the Ebitda level by August, Licious' parent Delightful Gourmet is opening more brick-and-mortar stores, speeding up deliveries to take on quick commerce rivals, the report said, citing Licious cofounder and CEO Vivek Gupta.
"We want to be an IPO-ready company in 12 months," Gupta said.
Last October, the foodtech startup acquired Bengaluru-based offline retailer My Chicken and More in a cash and equity deal, to help Licious add 23 more stores to its network and expand offline footprint.
On the financial front, Licious claimed that its loss declined 44% to INR 293.77 Cr in FY24 from INR 528.5 Cr in FY23. Its revenue declined 8.4% to INR 685.05 Cr during the fiscal year from INR 748 Cr, a year ago.
It is pertinent to note that Licious fired around 80 employees in FY24 in a restructuring exercise, helping the company to lift the pressure off of its bottomline.