Premium beer company Bira 91 has raised $70 million or over Rs 570 crore in series D funding led by leading Japanese beer firm Kirin Holdings, it announced on Tuesday. With the latest funding, Kirin has increased its stake in B9 Beverages, the maker of Bira 91, to about 20 per cent from 10 per cent.
“This is Bira 91’s largest fundraise. There’s a strong recovery of demand for beer led by younger and new consumers. The forecast for this decade is that the Indian beer market, at $8 billion by value sales, will grow to $20 billion by 2030,” said CEO Ankur Jain, while confirming the investment.
Bira 91 will use the funds to expand its existing facilities along with increasing the production capacity by commissioning new breweries. Further, the money will also be used to widen the company’s distribution footprint across India and around the world, and boost Bira 91’s product development and innovation capabilities, the company said in a statement.
Kirin Holdings Singapore, on the other hand, exuded happiness on investing in the ‘Make in India’ journey. “As the fifth largest economy in the world, with increasing digitalisation, and a stable, growth-oriented government, we are very excited to invest further in the ‘Make in India’ journey for the country,” said Kirin Holdings Singapore Managing Director Hiromasa Honda.
“We believe that Bira 91 has the potential to premiumise Indian beer through innovation by brewing the highest quality products for the country’s consumers,” Honda added.
Worth mentioning here is that Bira 91 had recently announced its goal to become India’s first carbon-neutral beer company. It has established the B9-Kirin Center for Sustainable Growth based out of its New Delhi headquarters for the same.
“As we look forward to driving strong growth in revenue, market share, and profitability over the next few decades, we are excited to deepen this long-term partnership further,” Jain added.
Launched in 2015, the company last month acquired India’s largest alco-beverage chain The Beer Cafe in an all-stock deal. Bira 91 has a portfolio of 10 diverse flavours in its portfolio and has a presence across 550 towns in 18 countries across the globe.
