Recent meat and seafood supply unicorn Licious is intensifying its expertise acquisition endeavours because it pursues profitability and readies for an preliminary public providing (IPO) inside the subsequent 24 months.
Pleasant Gourmand, Licious’ guardian firm, has named 39-year-old Karishma Gupta as its new chief monetary officer (CFO). Her appointment aligns with Licious’ drive for worthwhile progress via an omnichannel technique.
Primarily based in Bengaluru, the corporate goals to launch over 500 Licious shops throughout 20 cities within the subsequent 5 years, with the purpose of reaching working revenue by the top of the present monetary yr (2024-25).
She is going to play a pivotal position in fostering sustainable progress and profitability, establishing governance frameworks, and implementing key normal working procedures as Licious enters a pre-IPO part.
“We plan to open 500 shops over the following 5 years. Whereas it’s early to touch upon hiring numbers, we are going to search people with key abilities and specialised experience,” stated an organization spokesperson.
“These embody nuanced hyperlocal understanding, eager insights to determine shopper wants in key catchment areas for brand new shops, together with a profound understanding of key differentiators and synergies between on-line and offline landscapes,” the spokesperson added.
A chartered accountant, she brings over 18 years of various finance expertise to Licious. Her experience spans enterprise partnering, provide chain finance, governance, monetary planning and evaluation, audit, and controllership.
She has held management roles in multinational and Indian corporations, with a confirmed observe document of revitalising enterprise efficiency, monetary administration, and mergers and acquisitions.
Earlier than becoming a member of Licious, she spearheaded enlargement and turnaround methods throughout a number of manufacturers and geographies for Jubilant FoodWorks.
Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, co-founders of Licious, emphasised that the corporate is presently in a sturdy monetary place, having achieved almost a 20 per cent annual income run fee enhance of $100 million final yr. They highlighted the corporate’s transition from a loss margin to a gross margin of almost 30 per cent and an 80 per cent discount in burn.
“Sustaining monetary well being, sustainable progress, innovation, and establishing sturdy monetary frameworks are our key priorities as we embark on the following part of our journey,” stated Gupta and Hanjura. “We consider Karishma’s intensive expertise with prime listed gamers in associated industries, notably her retail experience which aligns with our omnichannel technique, shall be invaluable to us.”
Her earlier roles embody positions at Diageo, GSK Shopper Healthcare, and ITC. She is among the many youngest girls CFOs in India, a noteworthy achievement contemplating that solely 50 of the two,328 Nationwide Inventory Change-listed corporations have girls on this position.
“Licious is presently at an interesting inflexion level, whereby we are going to see a giant push in the direction of enlargement at a speedy tempo,” she stated. “Whereas Licious already has best-in-class finance buildings and governance, we are going to bear a transformative journey in the direction of the following part of innovation-led enterprise progress over the following few years.”
Licious serves customers throughout over 20 Indian cities, processing 1.2 million orders month-to-month with over 90 per cent repeat consumption throughout markets. The corporate employs over 6,000 crew members throughout varied disciplines and features.
Funding for enlargement
Temasek-backed Licious has about $100 million earmarked for increasing its shops. The agency plans a pre-IPO funding spherical someday in 2026.
With a powerful annual income run fee of Rs 850 crore, the corporate has witnessed a substantial enhance in month-to-month income, rising from Rs 60 crore to about Rs 72 crore year-on-year (Y-o-Y).
The platform expects to attain a income run fee of Rs 1,200 crore by March 2025, indicating a month-to-month income run fee of Rs 100 crore. Of this, Rs 90 crore might come through the app, whereas the rest might come from the brand new retail shops.
The month-to-month money burn has lowered to about Rs 12 crore from Rs 26 crore on a Y-o-Y foundation. The agency goals to additional scale back this to about Rs 10 crore. Gross margins have improved to 30 per cent, in response to sources.
For 2022-23, the corporate reported a 9 per cent Y-o-Y progress in income to Rs 748 crore. The loss for the yr was lowered by about 38 per cent to Rs 529 crore.
First Printed: Might 28 2024 | 11:10 PM IST