Aryan Khan Marks Entrepreneurial Debut With D’YAVOL

Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has marked his entrepreneurial debut alongside family friends-turned-business partners Bunty Singh and Leti Blagoeva. The trio have launched a premium vodka brand named D’YAVOL, with plans to expand into the brown spirits market.

The parent company is a luxury lifestyle company named Slab Ventures and is based out of Netherlands. It has partnered with the local arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) to distribute and market the product in India and global markets. For the uninitiated, AB InBev India sells the beer brands Budweiser and Corona.

Aryan Khan’s Slab Ventures will also launch more products across other premium consumer segments, including beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, apparel, accessories and more. The startup’s immediate plans include launching into the vodka segment in India and moving onto spirits such as whisky alongside expanding in Asia, Europe and North America.

Starting 2023, D’YAVOL will be aggressively marketed across top-end bars and restaurants and 4K- 5K top-end liquor retail stores.

Later on, as Slab Ventures plans to dabble with multiple verticals, sneakers (footwear) will likely be the first limited edition product to come out. Next in line, is an apparel vertical hitting the markets in the first quarter of 2023. 

D’YAVOL, which translates to devil, has marked its debut within Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. The brand will soon be available in Delhi and the top cities of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal and Telangana. 

It will compete with Bacardi’s Grey Goose and LVMH’s Belvedere in a $50 Bn worth global alcoholic beverage market. According to the trio, vodka remains a relatively small category in the country as Indians largely consume whisky, brandy and dark rum. 

With the market growing more than 7% CAGR, Slab Ventures wants to go beyond the average beer market, something AB InBev has been planning to do as well.

In the past, several celebrities have backed startups by putting money in them and with endorsements, but 2022 has marked a new era of celebrities venturing into the startup ecosystem as founders. 

Besides Khan, celebrities such as Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Alia Bhatt have launched their own ventures. As per experts, the trend will continue well into 2023.