Some stakeholders are ready to invest more in Bira. But they want founder Ankur Jain to exit

During a virtual call on 9 September, investors and lenders including Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India), Sofina, Sixth Sense Ventures, Anicut Capital and Japan’s Kirin Holdings discussed the state of the business, with most shareholders agreeing to infuse fresh funds into the company on the condition that Jain steps down.

Two of the four people cited above attended the 9 September meeting.

A financial settlement with Jain in a mix of equity and cash has also been discussed, these two people confirmed. All four persons wanted to stay anonymous in this report.

B9 is facing shrinking revenues, mounting losses, tax troubles and pending vendor dues. Some 250 employees have sent a petition to the B9 board and investors over delayed salaries and governance concerns, The Economic Times reported last Thursday.

Jain denied any such development or a formal offer before him. “Neither any offer to bring in capital has been presented to me, the company or its board by any investor, lender or stakeholder on the condition that I step down, nor has any “financial settlement" been offered to me or any of the promoters," he said in an emailed response to Mint.

But four persons have independently told Mint that discussions that Jain leave the company are indeed on. “Each shareholder spoke on what their position is. Most said they support the business, but if Ankur (Jain) steps down they are ready to put more money," said one person directly involved with the developments at the company.

Marquee backers

Institutional investors are the largest group of shareholders in the company with a 28.6% stake, led by Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India), Sofina, Sixth Sense, MUFG Bank, Tiger Pacific, Mayfield and GHIQF Mauritius, per the company's June 2025 cap table sourced from data tracker Traxcn. Kirin Holdings holds 20.3% shares of B9.

The promoters—including Ankur Jain and his family—collectively own 17.8% of the total holding. Other stakeholders including employees, individuals and family offices hold about one-third of the company together.

The beer maker was founded by Jain in 2015 and became widely popular owing to its cool packaging and made-in-India narrative. The business soon attracted top venture capital firms as also angel investors such as Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal of Snapdeal, Deepinder Goyal of Zomato, Ashish Dhawan, formerly of ChrysCapital. It's not clear if these angels still own shares in the company.

In its latest fundraising last year, Bira raised $25 million via external commercial borrowings from its existing investor Kirin Holdings in June 2024, according to an Entrackr report.

Business squeeze

Over the last two fiscal years, however, the business has been adversely impacted, with the company’s losses widening.

This has prompted investors to take a hard look at the business.

“If you look at where things stand today, employees haven't been paid in six months, statutory liabilities have built up. His leadership is clearly not working. He's not able to bring money into the company. In fact, other people are ready to bring in money, and the condition is that he has to go," said the first person quoted earlier.

Email queries sent to Sixth Sense, Sofina, and Kirin Holdings remained unanswered, while Peak XV and Anicut declined to comment on Mint’s queries.

“The next steps for the company cannot be figured out unless the founder steps down," said another person privy to the developments.

A third person said “management improvement" is needed at B9. “In the business world, if stakeholders demand management improvement, a change in top management is not on unusual option… some kind of professional management would be a great help for the company," this person said, adding there was also a need to improve corporate governance and have more transparency and communication with stakeholders.

Pulling B9 out of the trouble it is in could be possible with a leadership change, a fourth person aware of the current situation at the company said. “There is a lot of value in the brand but it’s a pretty complicated situation financially and I think execution is the problem and that a leadership change could be one of the options to revive the brand," this person said.

Doubling down?

Jain said he was staying at the company. “There is no question of any change in the leadership or me stepping down. I along with the management team are standing firm and are doubling down on our efforts to restore the company," he said.

On discussions among investors, he said: “All possibilities have been part of discussions with various stakeholders, including restructuring debt, ownership of equity, buyout of investors and haircuts for lenders/conversion of debt into equity. Given the criticality of the situation, all stakeholders have approached these discussions with an open mind and at least shareholders and promoters recognize that compromises will need to be made by key shareholders including promoters to bring in capital to the company."

B9 is, in fact, in talks to conclude a “substantial capital raise," Jain said without revealing names of potential investors. “We have received and signed certain term sheets. Our plan includes infusion of some capital in this quarter to bring immediate relief and repair business operations, and it includes the conclusion of our largest ever fundraise by next quarter. This fundraise will include a massive cleanup of the company’s balance sheet, significant reduction in debt and over dues and give the company runway till it becomes cash flow positive," he said.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the Indian craft beer maker is in talks to raise $132 million in its biggest ever fundraising with New York-based investment group Global Emerging Markets (GEM) as a potential suitor.

The promoters and key investors of the company are working together to ensure that the issues facing the company are resolved quickly, he added.

Name change trouble

Bira has struggled to pay employees amid a significant decline in business. Availability of the beer has been limited to select markets.

From selling beer in over 25 states, Bira is now available in just five states; Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, big markets for beer in India, are among them. Jain said the plan is to resume availability in 16 states after capital infusion.

In February, Mint reported that B9 was facing troubles with tax authorities in various states with huge pending liabilities not just to states but also to employees. The company also has pending cases filed by vendors before the National Company Law Tribunal over unpaid dues, the NCLT website shows.

The delay in clearing tax liabilities to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi—which led to significant disruptions to the company’s business in the second half of fiscal year 2024 (FY24) and the first half of FY25—was over a name change of the company that required the re-registration of all its brands and labels, and led to a temporary pause in sales, and major changes in its route-to-market and stock management. The company was earlier named B9 Beverages Private Ltd, which was changed to B9 Beverages Ltd.

In fiscal 2024, the latest accounting year for which data is available, B9’s revenue from operations declined 31.5% to ₹554.8 crore from ₹810.1 crore in the previous fiscal. The company posted a nearly two-thirds higher net loss of ₹643.5 crore in FY24 compared to ₹391.5 crore loss in FY23, shows data from business intelligence platform Tofler. B9 has not yet filed its financials for fiscal 2025.

Jain said the company faced a crisis last year prompting the beverage maker to restructure its business by focusing on fewer states, reducing fixed costs and focusing on gross margins. “This has meant taking hard calls on reducing costs including reducing employee headcount," he said.