Rakyan Beverages Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai-based startup that sells cold-pressed juices under the RAW Pressery brand, has raised Rs 40 crore ($6 million) from its existing investors.
Venture capital firms DSG Consumer Partners, Sequoia Capital and Saama Capital invested in this round, DSG founder Deepak Shahdadpuri confirmed in an emailed reply to a VCCircle query. The fundraising was first reported by Mint, citing RAW Pressery founder Anuj Rakyan.
RAW Pressery, Saama Capital and Sequoia Capital didn’t respond to emails seeking comment till the time of filing this article.
The four-year-old firm had previously received a big cheque from the three investors in February last year.
Earlier this year, the company secured investment from Sri Lankan model-turned-actress Jacqueline Fernandez. The round valued the cold-pressed juice maker at Rs 120 crore.
The Mint report also said that the company plans to use the fresh capital mainly to boost its monthly production capacity to 5.5-6 lakh litres from 3.5 lakh litres. A small part of the proceeds will be used to ramp up the company’s cold chain logistics infrastructure and for marketing campaigns.
The company, which has presence in 15 cities across the country, is planning to bolster its position in West Asia, where it has recently entered Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
In India, the company sells its products through modern retail outlets, including Nature’s Basket, Food Hall and HyperCITY. It also runs a subscription-based service, wherein juice bottles of both 250 ml and 410 ml are delivered at the doorsteps of its registered users. It claims to have 25,000 active customers, and produces 8,000 bottles a day.
RAW Pressery is among a handful of Indian startups that cater to the growing demand for healthy ready-to-drink beverages. In the juice category, cold-pressed juices are capturing the consumers’ imagination as they are perceived to be healthier than other packaged products. Investors are, therefore, betting big on this segment.
Late last year, Fresh Food Concepts Pvt. Ltd, which sells under the Juice Up brand, had secured Rs 13.5 crore in a pre-Series A round led by angel investors Siddhartha Gupta and Ashvin Chadha.
In March this year, Delhi-based cold-pressed juice maker MyGreens had acquired Food Ideas Pvt. Ltd-backed JusDivine in an all-stock deal.
