THE Meatpreneurs BUILDING A DE'LICIOUS' BUSINESS

Every month, we at Entrepreneur India, feature one entrepreneur, who has done some remarkable work so far, on our digital cover.

- S Shanthi

It is a video series that is close to our hearts. But, this month's cover is even more special for two reasons. One, after a long gap of two years, we could finally do a physical shoot and two, we are not featuring one but two successful entrepreneurs this time - meatpreneurs, as we call them, Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, co-founders, Licious. "We are two sides of the same coin,” Gupta tells us when we ask him about the kind of working relationship they share and the reason they often make media appearances together.

TAKING IT SLOW AND OWNING EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

Licious was launched in 2015 when Gupta and Hanjura saw an immense opportunity in the animal protein category, which was hitherto untapped in the Indian market. In just six years, the tech-powered D2C fresh animal protein brand Licious, achieved a billion dollars valuation post receipt of funding worth $52 million led by IIFL AMC's Late Stage Tech Fund in October last year.

Licious is also one of the few startups in the space that owns the entire supply chain. The company claims that every gram of meat sold on its platform is sourced, manufactured, quality checked and delivered by Licious. “In 2015, Gupta and I ordered a big lunch from a big place, but it didn't taste good. We knew instantly that the only way we can truly put magic in it is when we own it. This was imperative because this is what consumers deserved in the context of the category. The problem in the category was of inconsistency and non-standardization. How do you solve that, that's what we asked ourselves. A brand is the one that offers a consistent and reliable experience repeatedly," said Hanjura.