Why India’s meat startups are moving offline to survive

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: Online meat delivery still accounts for a measely 0.5% of India’s total meat market. After a decade of venture capital, slick apps, and promises of disruption, the neighborhood butcher still commands 99.5% of the market.

The math explains why. Customer acquisition costs remain punishingly high. Getting someone to try buying meat online for the first time isn’t cheap. Delivery costs hover around `100 per order, eating into already thin margins of 30-40% in direct-to-consumer channels at best, and below 10% in third-party marketplace channels where competition from quick commerce’s own private labels and wholesale networks is fierce.

Zepto’s Relish generates over 40 crore monthly, targeting1,000 crore annually by March 2026, undercutting specialised players on price. BigBasket’s private label portfolio (including Fresho Meat, Royal staples) now contributes one-third of its total revenue, leveraging decade-old cold chain infrastructure from Big Bazaar. “Quick commerce has already commoditised standard cuts with private labels,” says an analyst tracking the sector. “So meat startups are stuck in the middle: too premium to compete on price, not premium enough to avoid comparison shopping.” This isn’t a business problem that growth can solve. It’s a structural reality the sector spent $1.4 billion trying to wish away.

Given that, consumer affinity remains elusive because the fundamental products offered by meat delivery startups are stubbornly commoditised. Industry analysts point to this as the sector’s core challenge: Creating genuine differentiation in a commodity business.

“The specialised cuts strategy sounds good in investor decks, but ground reality is different,” says a senior industry analyst. “Yes, you can offer pre-marinated tandoori chicken or Korean-style pork belly cuts. But these require consumer education, command premium pricing, and have limited repeat purchase behavior outside metro tier-1 households.”
Case in point: While Licious, the category leader with `844.6 crore in FY25 revenue, reports 35% quarterly growth in ready-to-cook categories, these still represent a fraction of overall revenue. Licious’ 85% repeat customer base still comes from standard cuts.

Then there’s the issue of funding.

Between 2014 and 2025, Indian meat delivery startups raised nearly $1.4 billion in cumulative funding. The sector exploded during the pandemic — $124 million in 2020 and a peak of $417 million across 10 rounds in 2021. But the crash was swift: $195 million in 2022, $112 million in 2023, and finally $1.51 million in a single round in 2024. That 99.6% drop from peak tells you why players are scrambling for new channels of growth. Their responses reveal starkly different strategies and survival odds.

Time for a reset

The survivors are betting on a dual strategy: Physical stores for trust and owned hyper-fast delivery capacity for convenience. For Licious — which has 55+ stores across Bengaluru and Mumbai, with over 50% already breaking even at store level — omnichannel customers spend 30% more than digital-only users. Critically, 70% of new customers now discover the brand through stores first. This is a complete reversal from the app-first playbook. And 85% of revenue comes from repeat users. The company’s “Licious Flash” 30-minute delivery now reaches 60% of online transactions, with stores doubling as micro-fulfillment hubs, the company told FE.

Meanwhile, Chennai-based TenderCuts has rebuilt around lean neighborhood stores. Offline now contributes 30% of revenue, up from 10% a year ago, targeting 50% within six months. “Meat and seafood are emotional categories,” says Sasikumar Kallanai, CEO of TenderCuts. “People want to see what they’re buying. Even 20 years from now, meat will remain a touch-and-feel category.”

But even this omnichannel pivot comes with no guarantees. The economics of running physical stores while maintaining delivery infrastructure creates a delicate balancing act, and not everyone has the capital or time to get it right.
Above all, public market sentiment has cooled significantly since 2021-22. Investors look for market leadership, and if you’re small, underfunded, and in a competitive space, they get cautious, say analysts. The challenge is acute for players that raised at lofty valuations. “If you raised at $3 billion privately, you don’t want to list at $1 billion. There’s a valuation mismatch,” says an industry insider.

The sector has spent over a decade and $1.4 billion learning that Indians prefer to see their meat before buying it. The next test is whether that insight, however expensive, can actually be monetised at scale.