B9 Beverages, which owns and sells craft beer brand Bira 91, announced that it has raised $20 million in bridge financing from two of its existing investors– Sequoia Capital India and Belgium’s Sofina.
Other investors that took part in the funding round include Korean private equity fund Neoplux and multiple family offices, whose names remain undisclosed.
The company will use the funds for business expansion in India with a focus on increasing market share in the premium beer segment. Including this round, the company has now raised $130 million in funding.
“We continue to grow our business in both existing and new markets. Our market shares in several markets are now higher than 5% of overall beer, and more than 20% share of premium beer,” said Ankur Jain, chief executive of B9 Beverages.
In 2019, the five-year-old, New Delhi-headquartered Bira had commissioned two new breweries–in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka—in a bid to quadruple production capacity.
The company had entered the mass market beer segment in February last year with its product Boom. “2020 is a key inflection point for the company where we expect to reach double-digit market share in a number of states through the year,” Jain said.
Bira competes with the likes of global beverages giants Anheuser-Busch InBev, Carlsberg and United Breweries, among others.
Founded in 2015 by Ankur Jain and Sameer Brij Verma, the company now operates four breweries in India and has a presence in 400 cities across 10 nations.
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