Sequoia Capital-backed Bira 91 Acquires The Beer Café

Updated on: 12 October 2022 10:06 pm

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Sequoia Capital-backed B9 Beverages, the owner of indigenous craft beer Bira 91, has acquired restaurant and beer chain, The Beer Café, in an all-stock deal. The latter will now function as a subsidiary of Bira 91.

While the price for this acquisition remains undisclosed, the beer chain will will get Bira 91's support in terms of developing supply chains and innovations.

The Beer Café's promoters Rahul and Bineeta Singh and all major investors including Mayfield, Granite Hill, and RB Investments will get shares of Bira 91. Singh will continue to stay with the brand and will manage its its retail outlet division, including the newly created Bira Taprooms. These Taprooms will serve Bira 91 premium beer range, while the existing The Beer Café will continue to serve selection of alco-bev brands.

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Rahul Singh, founder, and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Beer Café said, “We have a strong operating model, and by leveraging on the strengths of Bira 91, we will be able to enhance the consumer experience and take the brand to newer heights. The neutrality of The Beer Café brand offering the most variety of beers remains intact.”

Ankur Jain, founder-CEO of B9 Beverages, “Both Bira 91 and The Beer Café were conceived with the same intent of evangelising and elevating the beer experience in the country and with this acquisition, together we aim to catalyse the growth of beer culture in India," said

Rahul Singh founded The Beer Café as a restuarant and beer retail chain in 2012. Since then, it has established 33 outlets across 15 cities in India. However, its business was affected by the pandeminc, when restaurants and bars were closed. The number of loss-making enterprises in the food industry increased to 1,342 in 2020 from 1,241 in 2019 according to various resources.

In the post-pandemic era, the agreement between Bira 91 and The Beer Café is expected to help both organisations in terms of widening revenues.

In early 2021, when Delhi-based Bira 91 raised $30 million from Japanese integrated beverages Kirin Holdings, the craft beer brand was valued between $230 million to $240 million. According to regulatory filings, its revenue in FY 2020-21 stood at Rs 428.2 crore.