Decoding Bira 91’s Series D round and shareholding pattern

Craft beer maker Bira 91 had recently announced its $70 million Series D round led by Japanese integrated beverages company Kirin Holdings. While the company did not disclose details of the new investment, Fintrackr has gone through the company’s regulatory filings to understand crucial elements such as cap table, valuation et al.

The board at Bira 91 has passed a special resolution to issue 78,04,356 Series D compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) to Kirin Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd at an issue price of Rs 718 per share to raise Rs 560 crore or $70 million, according to the company’s regulatory filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

As per Fintrackr’s estimates, the company has been valued at around Rs 4,318 crore or $540 million (post-money). Bira 91 has raised over $280 million to date including a pre-Series D round of $20 million in August 2021.

Following the allotment of the Series D round, existing backer Kirin Holdings increased its stake to 21.25% while Sequoia Capital remains the largest stakeholder with 24.83%. Founder and CEO - Ankur Jain diluted his stake to 6.66% followed by Sofina Ventures which owns 6.29% of the company. The complete shareholding pattern can be seen below:

Founded in 2015, Bira 91 makes various beer variants including Bira White, Gold, Bira Blonde, and Boom Super Strong among others. The company has also been experimenting with non-alcoholic beverages but the new vertical is still to get any significant traction. It has a presence in 18 countries with around 31,000 outlets across 550 cities. The company claims to have secured a double-digit share in several key markets and emerged as the fourth-largest beer brand in India.

After seeing negative growth in FY21, Bira 91’s operating revenue grew by 66.8% to Rs 719 crore during FY22. As per Fintrackr’s analysis, the firm’s losses also surged 57.8% to Rs 396 crore in FY22 against Rs 251 in the preceding fiscal year (FY21).

Along with fundraising, Bira 91 has also passed a resolution to increase its existing ESOP pool by around $14 million, whereas the total worth of the ESOP stands at around $32.75 million. Entrackr had exclusively reported this on December 12. The company also converted into a public entity which hints that the company is mulling over IPO in 2023.