Operating losses for the same period remained relatively flat at Rs 100-110 crore, people aware of the company’s financials said. For the full fiscal year (FY26), Licious is expected to clock Ebitda losses of around Rs 150-160 crore.
The revenue growth has come in the backdrop of the Temasek-backed company’s increased focus on high-frequency users and increasing store density, one of the persons said.
“A tighter focus on faster deliveries, denser city coverage and repeat users has helped lift operating momentum. The 30-minute delivery offering, Licious Flash, now serves over half of the company’s consumer base,” the person said.
The three largest markets— Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai—recorded 67% growth over the nine-month period, the person added.
Licious did not comment on its financials.
The numbers point to a recovery after a post-pandemic slowdown, when rising cash burn forced the company to tighten spending and focus on curbing losses.
During the venture funding boom period of 2021-2022, the company had scooped up $150-million, and managed to clock a massive 64% surge in revenues for FY22.
However, in fiscal year 2023, revenue growth slowed to below 10%, while its annual losses exceeded Rs 500 crore.
In FY25, Licious reported operating revenue of Rs 797 crore, up 16% from the previous year. Its net loss narrowed to Rs 218 crore from Rs 298 crore in FY24.
The potential from low online penetration and lack of organised players in the market had seen marquee investors such as Temasek, Prosus, Tiger Global, 3one4 Capital and Amazon pour over $1 billion into the direct-to-consumer (D2C) meat and seafood retail sector between 2020 and 2023. However, investors and senior executives in the industry started redrawing their strategies and revisiting their assumptions about the market after a slowdown hit the sector.
In 2024, Licious laid off 80 employees as part of an operational reset. It also started rebalancing resources away from experiments like plant-based meat, while focusing more on strategies such as omnichannel expansion
Despite the omnichannel push, almost 80-85% of the company’s revenue for the nine-month period ended December came from online channels.
Licious has an offline presentation only in Bengaluru and Mumbai. Over the last three months, it has expanded its offline presence in the two cities to 64 retail outlets, up from 50 in October.
The company had acquired My Chicken and More in 2024 in a cash-and-equity deal, getting the Bengaluru-based offline retailer’s 23 stores in the process. Licious is now on track to have 80 stores in Bengaluru and Mumbai by the ongoing fiscal year’s end.