Licious appoints new CFO ahead of major market expansion and profitable growth push

Delightful Gourmet, the parent of premium D2C meat and seafood brand Licious, has appointed Karishma Gupta as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The appointment comes at a time when Licious is targeting a profitable growth push through an omnichannel strategy.

The Bengaluru-based company has over 500 Licious stores opening across 20 cities in the next five years as it targets operating profit by the end of the current financial year. At Licious, she will play a key role in driving sustainable growth and profitability and setting up governance frameworks and key SOPs for the company as it heads into a pre-IPO phase.

Karishma, 39, a chartered accountant, brings over 18 years of diverse finance experience to Licious. Her expertise spans business partnering, supply chain finance, governance, financial planning, and analysis (FP&A), audit, and controllership. She has held leadership roles in multinational and Indian companies, with a track record of turning around business performance, financial management, and mergers and acquisitions. Before Licious, Karishma spearheaded expansion and turnaround strategies across multiple brands and geographies for Jubilant Foodworks.

Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, co-founders of Licious, said, "Licious is currently in a solid financial position, having exited last year with a nearly 20% ARR increase of $100 million. We have also gone from a loss margin to a gross margin of nearly 30% and have seen burn come down by almost 80%. Maintaining financial health, sustainable growth, innovation, and building robust financial frameworks are our key priorities as we enter the next phase of our journey. We believe Karishma's vast experience with top listed players in related industries, specifically her retail expertise which ties into our omnichannel play, will be a significant asset for us."

Karishma said, "Licious is currently at a fascinating inflection point, wherein we will see a big push towards expansion at a rapid pace. While Licious is already best in class regarding finance structures and governance, we will go through a transformative journey toward the next phase of innovation-led business growth over the next two years. I am excited to be at its helm from a finance perspective.”

Karishma's earlier stints included Diageo, GSK Consumer Healthcare, and ITC Ltd. She is among the youngest women CFOs in India, where only 50 of the 2,328 NSE-listed companies have women in this role.