Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand Licious has announced its progression into another domain with the launch of a plant-based meat brand. Called ‘UnCrave,’ this D2C brand has now put Licious in the alternative protein sector as well. 

As per the company, the launch of this D2C brand ‘UnCrave’ is also in tandem with the company’s strategy of portfolio diversification. With this launch, it aims to emerge as a market leader within the first year of launch itself and create relevance for a big chunk of meat-eating people. 

Licious claims that UnCrave has been developed from plant-based proteins and is free of all artificial preservatives and transfats. At present, it is available in major metro cities acoss India, but the offering consists of vegetarian chicken and mutton seekh kebabs. The cooking time of these products is about eight minutes with a shelf life that ranges between 12 to 14 days.

Licious was founded by Abhay Hanjura and Vivek Gupta and is currently valued at $1.47 billion, as per a Business Standard report. In an interview the media company, Hanjura said, “We have invested in over 20 months of in-house R&D to develop a range of products that closely resembles the taste and texture of meat in a never-before-experienced way.”

“Licious is the only Indian company to house both animal and alternative protein under one roof. UnCrave products can address everyday protein needs - an extremely pertinent need in a protein-deficient country like India," added Simeran Bhasin, business head-alternative protein at Licious told Business Standard. He also claimed that a superior, meat-like taste is the company's biggest unique selling point.

Apart from Licious, the global plant-based meat market has many players now. Several brands, some also start-ups, like Imagine Meats, Good Dot, Blue Tribe, Veggie Champ and so on, are also now becoming popular. 

Through UnCrave, Licious aims to compete with all the players in this meat space in order to become the largest plant-based meat brand in the country. The company claims that it serves over 2 million orders every month and also witnesses a lot of repeat consumption across markets.