B9 Beverages raises $6M in Series A funding from Sequoia, others

Craft beer company B9 Beverages said it has raised USD 6 million (about Rs 37 crore) in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital and other investors for its handcrafted beer brand Bira91. Other investors include Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal), Ashish Dhawan of Chrys Capital and Deepinder Goyal of Zomato.

The beer brand has been able to achieve a penetration of 70 per cent in all its markets within a year of its launch, the company said in a statement. Growing at an exponential rate, it has achieved a market share of 30 per cent in the premium segment without any extensive marketing strategies, it added.

"Bira91 is a great product with a dynamic team managing an innovative supply chain to capture the large on premise opportunity. We are excited about backing the challenger in a large category with nice customer cohorts on basket size, retention and frequency," Sequoia Capital Managing Director Abhay Pandey said.

The brand is present in seven cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Goa, Pune and Chandigarh. "In 2016, we will focus on laying the ground-work in terms of process, team and an effective execution strategy that will require an unstoppable hustle so that we are able to expand our geographical footprint in 2017 and capitalise on the large opportunities ahead of us," B9 Beverages Chief Executive Officer Ankur Jain said.