The funds will be utilized for national expansion of its craft beer brand – Bira 91.
Cerana Beverages, India’s first and leading craft beer company, has said that it will raise $10 million round from global venture firms. The company is in advanced conversations with multiple venture firms in India and the United States and expects to conclude the round by this summer.
The funds will be utilized for national expansion of its craft beer brand – Bira 91. The company intends to take the brand in draft and bottled format to the top 10 markets in the country. Cerana recently launched its first product– Bira 91 White – a wheat beer in draft format in Delhi NCR.
Ankur Jain, CEO, Cerana Beverages, said, “We introduced the beer in Delhi NCR and the feedback has exceeded our own expectations by a wide margin. We have been able to sell 10 times the volumes than we expected during our launch phase. We are very pleased with the initial traction that we have got and feel that we are now well positioned to create the first craft beer brand of scale in India.”
Bira 91 is positioned as a youthful Indian brand in a market dominated by large national and multinational players. The company is in the process to launch a second variant – Bira 91 Blonde - a craft lager this month.
According to the firm, the products will be launched in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata before the onset of summer. In addition to the wheat beer and the lager, the firm is also planning a launch of a third beer style and will also activate the export market in March 2015.
The firm also announced it had closed a “pre-series A” bridge round with existing investors this month. Earlier, the firm had closed a round that included senior angel investors from New York, Silicon Valley, Singapore and India.
Business Opportunities
Our Group Sites
Popular Cities
