Ankur Jain's beer brand Bira91, has attracted $6 million in its Series A funding

Rashmi Menon

B9 Beverages, which owns the Indian craft beer brand Bira91, has attracted $6 million in its Series A funding. Its founder Ankur Jain's refusal to back down in the face of stifling business red tape in India has been rewarded.

In a previous interview, Jain summarised his switch to the alcohol business in the following words - "Selling beer is a lot more fun than managing healthcare information (his previous job). But the challenges of entrepreneurship are very different in India vs US. India is a tough country to do business in but that's also part of the challenge. One of the reasons why I moved to alcohol beverages, despite being a Jain, is the fact that it was so heavily regulated and it was my first job in India. I thought if I can figure this out then I can figure the country out."

Meanwhile, Jain's personal favourite craft beer is Chimay. Brewed by monks of Trappist monasteries in Belgium, only small batches of the brew are created.

"It's delicious. I had the good fortune of spending a night at the monastery's dormitory and that's where I got introduced to the beer," he recalls.
B9 Beverages, which positions its craft beer brand in the premium segment, has raised funding from Sequoia Capital, Snapdeal's Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl, Chrys Capital's Ashish Dhawan and Zomato's Deepinder Goyal.