What Happened to Licksters After Shark Tank India?

Licksters is India’s first premium popsicle and ice cream brand with the most fruit concentrate. One lolly of Lickster contains more than 80% fruit. Their ice creams do not contain any artificial colors or chemicals.

More About Licksters

Parimal studied hotel management and was always passionate about ice creams. He and Dhivya realized that fruit ice creams consist mostly of chemicals. So, they decided to create an ice cream that tastes like eating fruits. He and Dhivya developed the ice creams themselves at home, and that’s how Licksters was born.

Licksters has four categories –

1. Vegan fruit bars
2. Greek yogurt bars
3. Ice cream bars
4. Premium ice creams and shakes

They started from a small store of 120 sq ft with six flavors. And now they have a range of 30+ flavors. They have multiple innovative flavors and sugar-free options.

Licksters Shark Tank Pitch and Updates

Parimal and Dhivya appeared on Shark Tank India Season 2, Episode 18, seeking INR 50 lakhs for 5% equity at a valuation of INR 10 crore.

Their pitch started well. But things took a turn when sharks tasted their ice cream. Aman felt it was similar to other brands. However, there was a huge price difference. A Cornetto costs INR 40, while the same Licksters’ bar costs INR 140. Amit also felt the price gap was too high.

Pitchers countered that Licksters provide real fruit and healthy sugars, while other brands offer harmful chemicals. Anupam was confused about their market. He felt their logo was suggestive as sometimes they talk about health, then fruit, and then taste.

Their annual revenue for the FY 2019-2020 was INR 9 lakhs. For FY 20-21, they made sales of INR 16 lakhs. For FY 21-22, their sales were INR 65 lakhs. In the first six months of FY 2022-23, they already generated INR 86 lakhs and were projecting INR 2 crore by the FYE. The month before they appeared on Shark Tank India, their sales were INR 14 lakhs.

All of their stores are profitable. Their gross margins on their own stores is 70-72%. While in franchise stores, it’s 50%. And their net margin on their own stores is 40%. While in their franchise stores, the net margin is 22-23% on a sale of INR 3.5 lakhs.

Out of INR 86 lakhs, INR 70 lakhs sales were made in their own store. They offer a margin of 40% on popsicles, 50% on ice creams, and 55% on products produced in the store.

They only sell via their own stores, franchise stores, Zomato, Swiggy, and a few other stores. They have a 5000 sq ft area now and are already allotted an 18,000 sq ft area in a food park for the next year.

Namita liked the flavor but decided not to invest because she felt the pricing was wrong. Aman had three issues with them – pricing, potential, and wanted Peyush.

So, he backed out too. However, Peyush said he was already an investor in Skippi, just like some other sharks. And he wanted to remain an investor in just one ice lolly business. And he decided to get out of the deal too.

Anupam didn’t think their targeting and positioning were sharp, and their growth might get hindered. For that reason, he decided to back out. Amit said he wanted to get out of the deal because he thought he didn’t really like the taste of their ice cream.

However, Parimal could convince Amit to take a chance on them. And Amit eventually came up with an offer. He made it clear that the product and pricing needed improvement but he was investing in Parimal and Dhivya.

Licksters got a deal of INR 25 lakhs for 5% equity at a valuation of INR 5 crore and INR 25 lakhs as debt in Shark Tank India by Amit Jain.

Frequently Asked Questions About Licksters

After their appearance on Shark Tank India Season 2, people were trying to find more information about Licksters. Here are some of the frequently asked questions about them.

1. Who Are The Founders of Licksters?

Parimal Kalikar and Dhivya Subburaju are the founders of Licksters.

2. Is Licksters profitable?

Licksters is profitable.

3. Why Sharks did not invest in Licksters?

Namita, Aman, and Anupam felt there were pricing issues, and they would face challenges while scaling. Peyush was already an investor in another popsicle brand and didn’t want a conflict.

4. What happened to Licksters after Shark Tank?

Licksters receive INR 50 lakhs on Shark Tank India from Amit Jain. They currently have franchises in Nagpur, Nasik, and Raipur. And now, they are looking forward to opening more franchises in Raipur and Bhilai.

We’re following up with them for updates and will share them with you when we hear something from them.