In a bid to strengthen its house of brands strategy, Temasek-backed Licious — so far largely an animal meat-focused startup launched UnCrave, its direct-to-consumer (D2C) plant-based meat unit.
Why it matters: Globally, companies that sell animal and plant-based meat, earn about 10% of their total revenue from the latter. Licious stated that the split will hold true for Licious as well and that it has the potential to add much more.
Licious serves over 2 million orders every month and boasts of a repeat consumption rate of over 90%.
As one of the largest meat-selling startups, venturing into new lands would help them expand their market while simultaneously curbing the competition of upcoming plant meat providers.
Last year: Licious said these products were underway for about two years during which over 100 startups have mushroomed in the plant-based meat industry. UnCrave’s Bhasin said the company was also open to acquiring more minor players in the space to strengthen its hold as it aims to be the largest player in the space in India in the next two years.
Backdrop: The business head Simran Bhasin, in an interview stated that India has about 100 days in a year where meat consumers cannot eat their favorite animal meat, and that is exactly where they were positioning themselves.
"Animal meat eaters who cannot consume meat on those 100 days are our target audience, not the vegetarians because they’re anyway not used to the texture"
Bhasin added that the margins were healthier on the plant-based meat side of the business, compared with the animal meat side.
What's next: The company said it plans to enter the other remaining top cities in India over the next few months. Over the coming 12 months, Licious will focus only on the top seven metro cities.
The brand will piggyback on Licious’ supply chain and take its products to Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru during its initial days.
Catch up quick: Licious has now expanded its arena to include plant-based meat which the business head stated was to tap into their consumers' requirements for those days when they cannot eat meat given the cultural beliefs in India.
