 "Craft Beer firm B9 Beverages raises $6 million")
B9 Beverages, a Craft Beer company, has raised Series-A funding of $6 million from Sequoia Capital, and other marquee investors namely, Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl (Snapdeal) along with Ashish Dhawan (Chrys Capital) and Deepinder Goyal (Zomato), for its handcrafted beer brand Bira91.
The company claims that the specially-brewed beer has been able to achieve a penetration of 70% in all its markets within a year of its launch. "Growing at an exponential rate, it has achieved an incredible market share of 30% share in the premium segment without any extensive marketing strategies," said the company.
It has reached a penetration level of about 33% of the outlet universe serving draught beer. This growth trajectory has catapulted them to a market leadership position as a front runner, leaving its competitors lagging far behind with a gap of almost 3x that has to be bridged, added the company.
"Bira91 is a cool 'Indian' brand and 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," commented Abhay Pandey, managing director, Sequoia Capital in a press release.
The company has established its presence in seven cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Goa, Pune and Chandigarh, said Ankur Jain, CEO, B9 Beverages.
In 2016, the company will focus on laying the ground-work in terms of process, team and an execution strategy to expand geographical footprint in 2017 and capitalise on the large opportunities, he added.