BTB Marketing Pvt Ltd, which operates an alco-beverage cum quick service restaurant (QSR) chain under The Beer Café brand, has raised Rs 30 crore ($4.7 million) from Granite Hill Capital Partner and Marico's promoter Harsh Mariwala in its Series B round of funding.
Existing investor Mayfield Fund, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, also participated in this fresh round of funding.
Mariwala's family office invested through a secondary transaction where it bought out the stake held by existing investor Coral Bay Advisors.
"The transaction provides full exit to Coral Bay while another angel investor Himanshu Gupta of S Chand Group stays with the company and did not sell any stake in this round," said a spokesperson of The Beer Café.
The proceeds from the primary issue of securities will be used to accelerate the growth and increase the store rollout.
"With the beer culture coming into India, we think it will be the next wave. Indian consumers are also becoming more aware of imported beer brands. Also Rahul is also a retailer by profession, with his grip on nuances of the business like unit economics besides the bigger picture is what attracted us,” according to Rishabh Mariwala of Marico.
In India, the company is serving over 50 different varieties of beer from across 17 countries. At present, it has 22 outlets spread across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Mohali besides new ones planned at Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
The firm is planning to open 30 new outlets by the end of FY16 with five new outlets to come up in the next three months alone.
"Granite has a broad mandate in India. We believe Beer Café’s fundamental economics are solid, with a dynamic and experienced promoter in Rahul Singh. The secular trends point to a tremendous growth potential for the company, with a growing cultural shift towards eating out across all ages, and in particular amongst the 25-40-year-old demographic," said Sameet Mehta, general partner, Granite Hill Capital Partner.
"The company has tripled its revenues over the past two years since we have invested. It's a segment which has been under represented," said Vikram Godse, managing director of Mayfield.
The Beer Cafe chain was conceptualised by former Carlsberg India MD Pradeep Gidwani and now solely owned by his business partner Rahul Singh. Singh, along with Gidwani, had invested Rs 3 crore in the firm in 2011 and later Singh bought out Gidwani from the venture. It had raised an undisclosed angel funding in the past.
Last year in May, Mayfield fund had invested $4.5 million (Rs 25 crore) in the company in Series A round which is still being utilised in outlet rollout expansion.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
