[Funding alert] Paper Boat raises Rs 30 Cr From Trifecta, Advent, A91

Ecommerce platform for beverages and snacks Paper Boat has raised Rs 30 crore in two different rounds from Advent Management, A91 Emerging Fund, and Trifecta Venture.

Gurugram-based Hector Beverages, Paper Boat’s parent company, raised Rs 10 crore in debt from Trifecta in February 2020. As part of this deal, Hector Beverages issued 100 debentures to Trifecta at Rs 10 lakh per debenture, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), accessed by YourStory.

Further, in November 2019, Advent Management and A91 Emerging Fund invested Rs 9.99 crore each in Hector Beverages. For this transaction, Hector Beverages issued 1,25,711 shares each to Advent Management and A91 Emerging Fund.

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According to the filings, A91 has already invested an initial tranche of $1.45 million in Hector on March 20 as part of the ongoing round.

Founded in 2010 by ex-Coca Cola India executives Neeraj Kakkar and Neeraj Biyani, Hector Beverages initially came up with an energy drink called Tzinga.

But gradually, it pivoted to selling fruit-based drinks under the Paper Boat brand. It offers a range of traditional Indian beverages with flavours such as aam panna, jaljeera, Jamun Kala Khatta, Chilli Guava, Nimbu Pani, Kokum, Neer More, Kanji, Sugarcane juice, Lychee Ras, Apple, Orange, Thandai, Neer and Coconut water, and other flavours.

Besides packaged juices, the startup is now tapping other FMCG segments and into Tier II and III regions. Paper Boat recently launched some traditional snacks such as peanut chikki, sesame chikki, aam papad, among others in small size assortments.

In the financial year 2019, Hector Beverages had posted a revenue of Rs 189.56 crore as it expanded its distribution to reach more Tier II and III markets. This was a 62 percent increase from Rs 116.94 crore as of FY18. The filings also showed a decrease in losses in FY19 by 1.92 percent – from Rs 61.03 crore in FY18 to Rs 59.88 crore in FY19.

A91 is an early to mid-stage investment firm set up by three former managing directors of Sequoia Capital – V.T. Bharadwaj, Abhay Pandey and Gautam Mago.

The fund plans to invest $10-30 million in mid-stage startups around the Series B or C stage. It looks to invest in healthcare, financial services, and consumer brands from the $300 million-fund, which it is currently raising.

(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)