New Delhi: Radiohead Brands, the parent company of Jimmy’s Cocktails, has secured ₹11 crore in a pre-series A funding round from Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Prath Ventures. The proceeds will be used for expansion of its new energy drink, Hustle.
Ankur Bhatia, the company’s co-founder, told Mint that the move aims to capitalise on the market potential after the success of rival energy drink Sting by PepsiCo India.
The funding round also saw participation from angel investor Neel Bahl. Existing investors include Keki Mistry (HDFC), Vishesh Khurana (Shiprocket), 7Square Ventures, Vidur Talwar (T&T Motors) and Anirudh Somani (CLSA). The company had raised ₹14 crore last year in March in an investment round led by Roots Ventures.
The company makes cocktail premixes and sparkling beverage mixers like tonic water, ginger ale, among others. Hustle will be a strategic portfolio expansion and will be priced between ₹50 and ₹100.
“This energy drinks category for PepsiCo India is growing faster than the rest of its portfolio. Theirs is an entry level price point and we want to go into the premium segment,” Bhatia said.
The company reported ₹80 crore in gross revenues in FY23, and expects to close the current fiscal with ₹100 crore. It aims to be profitable by next year.
The Energy Drink Brand has a potential to reach ₹40 crore in gross revenue in less than a year, the company said.
Its other products under the Jimmy’s brand are sold in about 50 cities in premium retail stores and competes with brands like Sepoy & Co., Franklin & Sons, Svami, Jade Forest and others.
It was founded by Bhatia & Nitin Bhardwaj in 2019.
Packaged beverage as a category has been stuck at the lower end of the price segment which is unique to the Indian sub-continent unlike other categories in India like technology, real estate, fashion, automobiles and spirits.
“We are building a multi-beverage brand company at the premium-end and have an ambition to build a ₹1000 crore revenue company within the decade,” he added.
According to a report by economic policy think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations from 2022, the country’s non-alcoholic beverages market could expand at a compound annual growth rate of 8.7% to reach ₹1.47 trillion by 2030.
Prior the pandemic, in 2019, the size of the overall beverages market including carbonated soft drinks, juices, bottled water, and fruit-based beverages stood at around ₹67,100 crore.
Updated: 18 Jul 2023, 10:33 AM IST
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