Licious invests USD 1 mn in fresh pet food startup Pawfectly Made

Unicorn startup Licious, which sells meat, meat products and seafoods, on Wednesday said it has invested USD 1 million (around Rs 7.6 crore) in a Bengaluru-based fresh pet food company, Pawfectly Made.

Licious had in March raised USD 150 million (about Rs 1,140 crore) in funding led by Singapore-based Amansa Capital for business growth.

''Pawfectly Made will continue to function as a separate entity with its own production processes and supply chain, as Licious comes in as a strategic partner leveraging their rich and nuanced understanding of the fresh animal protein sector to guide and scale Pawfectly Made faster,'' the company said in a statement.

The fresh pet food segment in India is at an inflection point, driving both Indian and international players to introduce their variegated product offerings to a fast-expanding user base.

According to TechSci Research, the Indian pet food market is growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 18 per cent and expected to reach USD 642 million by 2022-end, the company said.

''In spite of the growth opportunity that the industry provides, the pet food sector in India has restricted choices and customers have to be largely dependent on pre-packaged processed food. Pawfectly Made disrupted this status quo by introducing customizable fresh pet-food made with high-quality ingredients allowing convenient options for pet-parents to choose from,'' it added.

Licious sees a strong synergy with Pawfectly Made when it comes to offering high quality fresh products.

Nichelle Kamat, VP Category, Licious, said, ''Pawfectly Made is a good strategic fit for us given the shared vision and synergies across the value chain. The investment will give us access to a unique consumer play and product portfolio that will complement our existing infrastructure.” Since its inception in 2015, Licious said it has adopted 100 per cent traceable and sustainable sourcing practices, creating quality benchmarks for the industry.

Founded by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Licious is India’s first D2C (direct to consumer) unicorn, a company with a valuation of over USD 1 billion, focused at supplying unmatched range of meat and meat products.