Temasek-backed Licious lays off 80 employees as part of operational reset

Abhay Hanjura & Vivek Gupta, co-founders, Licious

Licious, the meat delivery startup, has laid off around 3 percent of its workforce, or about 80 employees, in a cost-cutting exercise, people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol.

Before the restructuring decision, Licious had about 650 corporate staff and 2,400 people across production and supply chain functions which meant a total of around 3,000 employees on its payroll.

The development comes months after Moneycontrol reported that the Bengaluru-based unicorn had seen its revenues stagnate while its monthly cash burn remained unchanged.

The company confirmed the developments. “Licious, as a brand, sees significant scope in expanding the number of targeted households to further fuel the consumer transition from traditional markets to contemporary purchase formats. We are reprioritising our cost outlays, considering the new growth levers. In doing this, it is unfortunate that we have to separate with some employees who have been a part of our journey,” a spokesperson for Licious said in response to Moneycontrol’s queries.

Licious' shift in priorities comes at a time when it clocked little growth in operational revenue in FY23. Licious had ended FY23 with a revenue of Rs 700 crore, less than half of Rs 1,500 crore that it had projected initially. In the current fiscal, while its monthly revenues had remained in the Rs 62-68 crore range until September last year, business appears to have picked up.

The company's monthly revenue is just a touch over Rs 75 crore and is likely to end FY24 with an annualised revenue run rate (ARR) of over Rs 900 crore.

Moneycontrol had earlier reported that the company's monthly cash burn remained largely in the Rs 22-26 crore range between April to September 2023. Since then, Licious has managed to bring down its burn and hopes to achieve EBITDA profitability by the end of FY25.