Meet Vivek Gupta, who built Rs 8,000 crore meat firm; he cleared CA exam aged just 21

Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta -- friends-turned-business partners -- are one of the biggest success stories that emerged from India's start-up ecosystem. The duo quit their high-paying corporate jobs to open Licious, a company that sells gourmet meat. Their annual turnover in the first year was Rs 3 crore. In a short span of 7 years, they are now looking to touch the turnover of Rs 1500 crore. They are currently the highest valued meat brand in India with a valuation of at least 1 billion dollars (over Rs 8000 crore). Last year, they raised $150 million in a Series F2 funding round that came months after they scored the $1 billion valuation. They didn't disclose the valuation but it was expected to be more than 2 billion dollars. Here's their journey.

Abhay Hanjura is a Kashmiri Pandit. He moved from Jammu to Bengaluru in 2004 to study biotechnology. He later joined the insurance risk management and BFSI sector. Vikek Gupta was a chartered accountant who came to Bengaluru from Chandigarh for a job in a software company.

They opened Licious in July 2015. They got 1300 orders in October of that year. Buoyed by the warm response, they kept growing the company. As of now, they deliver lakhs of orders every day. The company delivers fresh meat, seafood and eggs. 

The idea came to Abhay. They met as representatives of their respective companies. 

After talking with each other, they realised both wanted to start their own business. Vive agreed to Abhay's idea. 

Vivek told The Weekend Leader that he was a bit scared to leave his established job. But fear propelled him to work harder towards success. Abhay's parents were also startled with the idea. However, they later warmed up to the idea. 

While researching, the duo realised that they would need to deliver high-quality meat in order to succeed. They also realised that chicken must be antibiotic free. After two months of research, they started their company. 

They had a five-member team to begin with. They initially relied on innovative marketing initiatives. For instance, they organised events and tasting sessions at residential societies. This gave them a good word-of-mouth facility.

Soon, their customers realised that Licious quality was better than their competitors'. They soon started to get investors lining up for a part of their company. 

So far, Licious has raised reportedly $489 million. It also became India's first direct-to-customer unicorn. By 2022, the company had 3500 employees.

Vivek Gupta recently said in an interview that Licious expected that its revenue will cross Rs 1500 crore this financial year.The company now has presence in 28 cities. He also said that the company's focus was also on driving profitability. 

He said by 2023 end, the company may be EBITDA positive. He also said that he won't bring the IPO before becoming profitable.

By FY22's third quarter, the company had generated a revenue of Rs 706 crore, including Rs 16.9 crore as delivery charges. They also generated Rs 23.5 crore on bank deposits and current investments.

Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura are long-time friends. He oversees marketing, technology, finance and expansion in the company. He spent close to 10 years in the finance team of Helion Ventures. He became a CA at the age of 21.

List of Vivek Gupta's awards

Top 100 Indian Future CFOs - 2013; Business World 40 Most Disruptive Entrepreneurs - 2018; Fortune India 40 Under 40 – India’s young & brightest entrepreneurs- Class of 2019.

He is a passionate badminton player.