Bira 91 Raises $20 Million In Bridge Fund From Sequoia And Sofina

With India’s predicted G.D.P growth rate for the F.Y 2021 to be just 0.8%, the country is steadily slipping towards an economic depression. Amid these dreary times when companies are looking towards job cuts, B9 Beverages, the parent company of the popular beer brand, Bira91, seems to be doing the opposite. It recently acquired a bridge fund worth $20Million from Sequoia Capital India and Sofina Capital etching its mark deep in the super-competitive beer industry.

The company managed to raise an impressive sum of $20Million at the Pre-Series C equity financing round. It got the amount as a bridge fund which entails intermediate funding intended to cover the company’s short term expenses until long term funding is secured. Amid neck to neck competition, B9 Beverages managed to emerge victoriously despite several bigger players like Carlsberg and United Breweries in the race.

Bira91, the Delhi based beer brand has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata and Bengaluru to name just a few. The local company even has an office in the Big Apple, New York.

“Mr Ankur Jain, the company’s chief executive said “We continue to grow our business in both existing and new markets. Our market shares in several markets are now higher than 5% of overall beer, and more than 20% share of premium beer,”. Bira meanwhile plans to expand its consumer base by opening two new breweries in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka”.

 

“Mr Jain further added that 2020 is the year in which the company’s market share is expected to grow in both overall beer sales and the premium beer category”.

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This positive news for B9 and Bira91 comes at a time when liquor stores across the country are shutting down, thus incurring huge losses for the industry. According to the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies, different states of the country have cumulatively incurred losses amounting to more than Rs 20,000 crores till date. The confederation further urged the Government to at least open the liquor shops in the areas which are COVID free or instead allow the online sale of liquor.