India’s largest D2C Unicorn, Licious announced today that it has invested $1mn in a Bengaluru-based fresh pet food startup, Pawfectly Made. 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 & nuanced understanding of the fresh animal protein sector to guide & scale Pawfectly Made faster.
The fresh pet food segment in India is at an inflection point, driving both Indian & 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 of 18% and expected to reach $642 million by 2022 end.
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. As a brand built on the tenets of uncompromised quality & freshness, Licious is passionate about delivering the best in product & experience to their customers.
The company also firmly believes that India deserves better meat & has been working tirelessly towards transforming the meats & seafood industry through significant interventions in supply chain and technology, developing better products & experience while improving industry benchmarks. Licious sees a strong synergy with Pawfectly Made when it comes to offering high quality fresh products & elevated meaty experience to customers.
Speaking about the development, Nichelle Kamat, VP Category, Licious, said, “We at Licious have always been committed to building a brand synonymous with freshness and quality in meats & seafood by bolstering the industry with global standards of sourcing, supply chain and technology. We are equally enthused by business ideas that are adjacent and complementary to our vision of building Licious as the Everything-Meat Brand. 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 has adopted 100% traceable and sustainable sourcing practices, creating quality benchmarks for the industry. The Bengaluru-based brand is also the largest D2C brand from India to be certified with FSSC22000, one of the highest food safety certifications in the world. Rooted in a sustainability mission, Licious is also the first company in the segment to take a pledge towards achieving complete ESG compliance.
