[Funding alert] Craft beer brand Bira 91 gets $4.3M from Sixth Sense Ventures

Craft beer brand Bira 91 has raised close to $4.3 million (Rs 30 crores) as a part of a pre-Series C round from Sixth Sense Ventures India, as per the regulatory filings with the MCA.

In May 2018, the beer brand had raised $50 million from Belgian investment firm Sofina. The company had then said that it was looking to use the funds to expand its India business five folds over the next three years and establish a leadership position in the Indian premium beer market.

With the round in May 2018, Bira 91 had said that it had raised a total $100 million since its inception.

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Founded in 2015 by Ankur Jain, Bira91 is a speciality beer brand by B9 Beverages. The company is focussed on mild beers as its team figured urban consumers prefer lighter beers.

Bira 91 started with two types of beer – a European style pilsner, which is similar to a lager, that is based on Belgium beers, which has citrus and coriander notes. Initially, Bira imported the beer from Belgium and bottled it in India. 

Last year, the company was also pushing the gear on international expansion. It had said that it will further penetrate in the Northeast regions of the US including New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Bira 91 started production in upstate New York to service the region.

Last year, the company also planning for expansion in the Asia Pacific region, and looking to enter Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore markets.

Headquartered in Delhi, Bira 91 has close to 350 employees and is backed by Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy; Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal; Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

This fiscal year, Bira 91 is also focussing on expanding its current production capacity in India to 2 million.  

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