Sequoia Cap, Sofina infuse $20m in Bira

Bengaluru: B9 Beverages, which owns the Bira beer brand, has raised $20 million in bridge financing from two of its existing investors Sequoia Capital and Sofina, a Belgian investor. This is part of the company’s pre-Series C equity financing round which began last year, as part of which it raised $4.3 million from Sixth Sense Ventures, a domestic venture capital fund focused on consumer investments. Proceeds from the funding would be used to expand its business in India.

“Our market shares in several markets are now higher than 5% of overall beer, and more than 20% share of premium beer,” said Ankur Jain, CEO of B9 Beverages. Bira has raised $130 million since it started five years ago.

Bira recently entered the mass market segment with the launch of Boom which will compete against United Breweries’ Kingfisher Strong. Its other competitors include Carlsberg and AB Inbev.