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Focus on business problems, not tech: Licious CTPO Ajit Narayanan

YourStoryYourStory · 1y ago
Focus on business problems, not tech: Licious CTPO Ajit Narayanan
Medial

Startups should prioritize solving business problems rather than obsessing over technology in their early stages of growth, according to Ajit Narayanan, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Licious. Narayanan advised entrepreneurs to identify business challenges, establish product-market fit, and then implement the right technology. He stressed the importance of having a strong technical partner who understands how to craft the right technology solution. Narayanan also warned against the pitfalls of focusing solely on technology without aligning it with business needs. The panel discussion also featured insights from CPTOs of Yubi and Swiggy on integrating AI and driving innovation through automation.

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Spacetech startups should work on things which can be useful for Isro: Nambi Narayanan

Economic TimesEconomic Times · 1y ago
Spacetech startups should work on things which can be useful for Isro: Nambi Narayanan
Medial

Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist Nambi Narayanan highlighted that many startups in the space sector are duplicating work that was done 50 years ago. He emphasized the need for startups to focus on doing something different and useful for ISRO, the country, or the international market. Narayanan mentioned that lack of confidence and high costs are barriers preventing startups from creating certain technologies. Vaanam, a new private space tech accelerator in India, aims to support the growth of space startups in Tamil Nadu by providing specialized tools and bridging commercialization gaps. Narayanan serves as a mentor for Vaanam, which is backed by notable figures such as R. Madhavan and Ravi Mariwala.

Licious lays off 80 employees citing ‘operational reset’

EntrackrEntrackr · 2y ago
Licious lays off 80 employees citing ‘operational reset’
Medial

D2C meat and seafood brand Licious has laid off nearly 3% of its workforce citing “operational reset to sharpen the growth focus.” The move will affect 80 employees. Licious has 3,000 employees including 650 in corporate and 2,350 in production and supply chain. While the company did not disclose the impacted functions, sources say that the exercise affected all departments. “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 reprioritizing 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,” the company said in a statement. Licious will be providing two months’ salaries as compensation, along with the variable payment for FY24 to the impacted employees, the statement added. Founded in 2015 by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta, Licious sells meat, seafood and ready-to-cook items across 25 cities. The sale of these products formed the majority source of revenue for Licious in FY23. The company turned unicorn following a $52 million round led by IIFL AMC’s Late Stage Tech Fund in October 2021. During the same year, it also scooped up $192 million in Series F round. In total, it has raised $490 million to date. Despite back-to-back funding during FY23, Licious’s operating income remained flat with mere 9.6% growth to Rs 747.7 crore from Rs 682.5 crore in FY22. It also saw a modest increase of 3.1% in its losses to Rs 500 crore in FY23 from Rs 485 crore in the previous fiscal year. Interestingly, the company had claimed that it is close to achieving profitability at the EBITDA level. In its latest statement, however, Licious said it is tracking an annual revenue run rate currently of Rs 900 crore. The company further said it will introduce a new market expansion plan in the coming weeks. “With significant investments in the brand, deeper backward integration and an active pursuit of automation in the supply chain, Licious will focus on expanding the market potential and reach in the next financial year. Licious has already resurrected the marketing spending this year after recasting the growth levers,” the company said. Licious is the largest player in this space and competes with the likes of FreshToHome, Zapfresh, BBDaily, MeatRoot and Easymeat. There has been a surge in layoffs across late-stage startups in the past couple of months. Flipkart, Swiggy, InMobi, ShareChat, Polygon, Cult.fit, and Paytm (now a public company) have already fired more than 3,500 employees collectively since December 2023.

Amid fundraise struggles, neobank Fi pivots to B2B offerings

EntrackrEntrackr · 11d ago
Amid fundraise struggles, neobank Fi pivots to B2B offerings
Medial

Amid fundraise struggles, neobank Fi pivots to B2B offerings Neobank Fi is shifting its strategy towards B2B offerings, CEO Sujith Narayanan said in a LinkedIn post. The Bengaluru-based company has faced fundraise challenges and other operational issues in recent months. In the post, Narayanan said the company undertook an internal review to assess where it delivers its strongest problem-solving. He said the leadership team identified deep technology, artificial intelligence, and complex system development as Fi’s core strengths. Fi, which provides millennial-focused digital banking solutions with savings accounts, has raised around $147 million to date and was valued in the range of $520 million to $550 million after its last tranche in July 2022. Narayanan added that Fi’s next chapter will focus on the intersection of AI and B2B, with an emphasis on building technology solutions for startups and large enterprises. He said this strategic realignment will lead to the sunsetting of some products, which will impact certain roles within the company. This is not the first round of layoffs at Fi. In 2023, the company laid off around 10 percent of its workforce, or about 30 employees, citing strategic restructuring. Narayanan said these decisions are related to how the company needs to be structured going forward and are not linked to individual performance or talent. He also said the shift does not take away from Fi’s consumer journey and that its previous products and customer experiences contributed to the company’s evolution. Separately, sources told Entrackr that Fi is also exploring a potential acquisition and currently has a runway of around six months. According to sources, the company has held acquisition discussions with Jupiter, Slice, and Razorpay, though the talks did not go through. Entrackr has reached out to Fi for comment.

Licious reports Rs 795 Cr revenue in FY25; cuts EBITDA losses by 45%

EntrackrEntrackr · 4m ago
Licious reports Rs 795 Cr revenue in FY25; cuts EBITDA losses by 45%
Medial

Licious reports Rs 795 Cr revenue in FY25; cuts EBITDA losses by 45% Kunal Manchanada 18 Oct 2025 20:34 IST Direct to consumer (D2C) meat and seafood brand Licious recorded a 16% year-on-year growth in its operating scale during the fiscal year ending March 2025. According to the company’s press release, its revenue grew to Rs 795 crore in the last fiscal year. The Bengaluru-based firm also claimed to narrow EBITDA losses by 45%. For context, Licious saw a 9% revenue decline in the last fiscal year (FY24) due to an operational reset, but the last fiscal year (FY25) indicated a recovery led by its omnichannel approach. While Entrackr will analyze the company’s detailed financials once it files its annual statement with the RoC, Licious said it reduced EBITDA losses by 45% to Rs 163 crore in FY25 from Rs 296 crore in FY24. The company credited this improvement to cost control measures and better contribution margins across business lines. Licious claims to serve over 1.2 million monthly customers across 20 cities, with online sales contributing more than 85% of overall revenue. Offline expansion also gathered pace, with the brand crossing 50 retail outlets, including the My Chicken and More chain it acquired in February FY25. Licious plans to scale its retail footprint to 80–100 stores by FY26. Meanwhile, the company’s H1 FY26 revenue rose 42% year-on-year to Rs 530 crore, according to the release. Its quick delivery service, Licious Flash, now serves 60% of its online customers. To date, the Temasek-backed firm has raised over $450 million. According to TheKredible, Mayfield India holds the largest stake in Licious at 14.69%, followed by Vertex Ventures, 3one4 Capital, and others. It competes with FreshToHome, Zappfresh, BBDaily, MeatRoot, and Easymeat.

Bizongo appoints CEOs, CTPO and CFO for new verticals

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Bizongo appoints CEOs, CTPO and CFO for new verticals
Medial

E-commerce-focused packaging company Bizongo is ramping up the top deck of its raw material marketplace BizongoBuy and embedded supply chain finance platform BizongoFin with new chief executive officers (CEOs). The group has also appointed chief technology and product officer (CTPO) and chief financial officer (CFO), strengthening its senior leadership. Ex-banker Kiran Dev has been named CEO to lead BizongoFin, the fintech arm specializing in embedded supply chain financing solutions to address the $300 billion unmet SME credit needs. Prahlad Krishnamurthi has joined as the CEO to lead BizongoBuy, the integrated B2B marketplace for SMEs to buy raw materials. Last week, Krishnamurthi stepped down from the post of Cleartrip’s chief business officer (CBO). In addition, Gaurav Singhania has been appointed as the group’s Chief Financial Officer. The firm has also roped in Amol Wanjari as the group’s CTPO. He will draw on his leadership experience at Amazon and Acko to deliver an e-commerce-like experience to Indian SMEs through Bizongo’s digital platforms. In October last year, Bizongo had raised $50 million in its Series E funding round led by existing investor Schroder Adveq. Soon after the fundraise, it also acquired FactoryPlus, a digitisation app for MSME factories. Bizongo’s revenue from operations grew 98.6% to Rs 166.86 crore in FY23 while its losses spiked 173.1% to Rs 291.57 crore during the same period. Its FY24 numbers are yet to be disclosed.

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