Licious, a D2C Unicorn, has appointed Karishma Gupta as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). 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.
In her previous role, she was associated with Jubilant FoodWorks as Vice President Finance from September 2021 to May 2024. Previously, Gupta was also associated with DIAGEO India as Commercial Finance Head- East & Central India from October 2021 to August 2021.
She also served as India Finance Head, Global-Business Finance Head- General Manager at Sentiss Pharma for close to one-and-a-half years.
Before this, Gupta was associated with GSK Consumer Healthcare India for more than five years. She started as Business partner: Foods, Oral & new product development (Deputy Manager- Finance) in March 2013 and was elevated to Business partner- FP&A (Manager Finance) and later on, she was promoted to Lead-Marketing finance & Partner- business development (Senior Manager) in February 2017.
In the past, Gupta was also associated with ITC for almost five years. She started as Finance & Accounts: Industrial Trainee in March 2008 and was promoted to Business Finance, Supply Chain, Internal Audit (Assistant Manager- Finance) in November 2008. From October 2005 to February 2008, she served as Articled Assistant at Lodha & Co.
Commenting on the development, 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.”
Speaking on the appointment, Gupta, Chief Financial Officer, 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.”
