Jacqueline juices an investment opportunity, pumps Rs 3.5Cr into F&B firm Raw Pressery

One of the pioneers in cold-pressed juices in India, RAW Pressery has attracted Rs 3.5 crore in funding from actress Jacqueline Fernandez. This makes the Bollywood star India’s first celebrity to finance a consumer goods company.

Founded in January 2014, RAW Pressery is a Mumbai-based F&B startup that manufactures cold-pressed juices with a blend of ingredients to help you trim, glow, shield, build, run and flush, and have been concocted with heavily researched recipes. Rakyan Beverages, the parent company of the juice provider, is undergoing a brand transformation and wants to work on its affordability and accessibility. Therefore, they are slashing their prices from a premium Rs 80 per bottle to Rs 50.

About roping in Jacqueline as an investor and backer, Anuj Rakyan, Founder of Rakyan Beverages, told Economic Times, “While professional investors take calculated risks, celebrities are believers and users of the brand. Jacqueline has about 13 million followers just on Instagram and can influence buyers. Hence, she is not an ambassador but an evangelist who can have an impact on the topline."

Their official website says that they deliver to one's doorstep in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Bengaluru. RAW Pressery's line of juices is not only available at departmental stores like Nature’s Basket, Food Hall, and Hypercity, but can also be ordered online. They claim to have 25,000 active customers and are producing 8,000 bottles a day.

With Jacqueline’s investment of Rs 3.5 crore and the stake she has acquired, the company's valuation is roughly Rs 120 crore, which tallies with the valuation it received last year, upon raising their series B funding ($4.5 million) from Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital Management, and DSG Consumer Partners.

Another one of their "pet" causes is transforming the pet bottles they sell their juices in into school uniforms for underprivileged children. RAW Pressery introduced this recycling initiative – RAW cycle – through interactive art installations that aimed to recycle one tonne of plastic bottles generated during the Sula Fest 2017 in Mumbai.

Anuj also revealed to ET that they wish to raise $10 million by the end of 2017, in order to scale their manufacturing and marketing operations.