New Delhi-based Bored Beverages, a beverage brand that specializes in alternative alcoholic beverages, has raised Rs 2.5 crore (approx $314K) in a seed funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures, a Gurugram-based angel investment platform.
The round also saw participation from individual investors, including Bhawana Bhatnagar, Founder – WeFounder Circle, Soumya Kant, Founder – Clovia, and from the Dot In Network.
Founded in 2020 by Vinayak and Anant Gupta, Bored Beverages said it is building a cross-category portfolio of alcoholic beverages for the Millennials and Gen-Z by bringing out newer brands with various flavors and different alcohol percentages, using various traditional and non-traditional ingredients.
The startup said its first product in the market – No Label is a mead, alternate alcohol made from fermenting Honey. No Label is intended for early alcohol consumers due to its ease of drinkability and lightness.
It aims to disrupt the Indian alco-bev market by using its early mover advantage, unique product, well-established standard production operations, and quality control procedures, it said.
According to the company’s statement, the raised capital will be used for team expansion and scaling of sales and marketing operations and establishing a well-set distribution channel, and building the brand in the market.
The Brand plans to position itself in the Ready-to-Drink alcohol market on the back of its distinctive marketing strategy, effective on-market trade techniques, and an inventive product pipeline.
“With No Label Mead as our first product towards building a cross-category portfolio company, we plan to bring to the market new alcohol and new flavors for consumers to experience. IPV recognized our play in the Alco-Bev sector and we’re glad that they have partnered with us,” said Vinayak Malhotra, Co-founder of Bored Beverages.
According to industry reports, by the year 2030, 50% of consumers are expected to buy more of the same category of alcoholic beverages that they were consuming, 26% are estimated to move to higher brands, and 24% are expected to spend on newer categories of alcoholic beverages. Bored Beverage said it falls in the new category.
“India as an alcohol consumption market has been steadily on a rise. The young population — Gen-Z, and Millennials – want to explore and expect unique combinations to be served. We believe Bored Beverages has understood this need of the market and is ready to roll out a range of beverages, which suits the palates and makes the experience pleasant and worthy,” said Mitesh Shah, Co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures.
“Going forward, we expect alternate alcoholic beverages to be a fast-growing segment and Bored Beverage has the right concoction to serve unique drinks to its target customers,” Mitesh said.
According to the company, The global mead market is growing rapidly at a CAGR of 18.7% to touch $1.62 billion by 2028. The global ready-to-drink market is growing at higher rates than spirits, wine, and beer, signaling a major shift in consumer interest in this category across all demographics. Robust demand for flavored alcoholic beverages and the adoption of low alcohol content beverages are predicted to fuel the ready-to-drink alcohol industry and outperform the wider beverage alcohol. The US is the fastest-growing and trending category.
The company said India is one of the fastest growing alcoholic beverages markets globally, with estimated market size of US$52.5 billion in 2020 and the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% between 2020 and 2023.
Source @Indianstartupnews
