new delhi b9 beverages which owns and sells craft beer brand bira 91 has raised 20 million about rs 153 crore in bridge financing from two of its existing investors sequoia capital india and belgiums sofina the latest capital raise is part of b9 beverages larger 30 million preseries c equity financing round the proceeds of which are earmarked for business expansion in india with a focus on increasing market share in the premium beer segment said ankur jain chief executive of new delhiheadquartered b9 beverages we continue to grow our business in both existing and new markets our market shares in several markets are now higher than 5 in overall beer and more than 20 in premium beer said jain advt in 2019 the now fiveyearold company had commissioned two new breweriesin andhra pradesh and karnatakain a bid to quadruple production capacity the company now operates four breweries in india and has a presence in 400 cities across 10 nations b9 beverages entered the mass market beer segment in february last year with its product boom 2020 is a key inflection point for the company where we expect to reach doubledigit market share in a number of states through the year jain saidthe preseries c round kicked off in may last year after the company brought on board consumerfocused investment firm sixth sense ventures which invested an estimated rs 30 crore at the time bira competes with the likes of global beverages giants anheuserbusch inbev carlsberg and united breweries among others additionally the round has also seen participation from korean private equity fund neoplux and multiple family offices whose names have not been disclosedsofina which has earlier backed flipkart byjus and hector beveragesthe maker of ethnic drinks brand paper boatfirst invested in bira in 2018 news of which was broken by etseparately marquee venture capital firm sequoia capital one of indias most active investment firms has been an early backer of the company having initially invested in 2016 advt the development comes at a time when sale of alcohol in india has stopped due to the nationwide lockdown imposed by the government to stop the spread of coronavirus infectionthe confederation of indian alcoholic beverage companies has urged states to impress upon the centre about an urgent need to restart sale of liquor in noncovid zones according to news agency pti pointing out that states have already lost about rs 20000 crore in liquor revenue due to the lockdown the apex body of the indian alcoholic beverage industry has urged the centre as well as the states to allow opening of liquor shops besides considering online sales to check overcrowding at outlets by biswarup gooptu et bureau published on apr 25 2020 at 0424 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to