Jimmy’s Cocktails Raises Funding To Take Omnichannel Approach For Expansion

Gurugram-based F&B startup Jimmy’s Cocktails has raised $1.8 Mn (INR 14 Cr) in Pre-Series A funding round led by Roots Ventures.

The round saw participation from 7Square Ventures, Ship Rocket’s Vishesh Khurana, Mama Earth’s Varun Alagh and existing investors including HDFC’s Keki Mistry, T&T Motors’ Vidur Talwar, CLSA’s Anirudh Somani, among others.

Jimmy’s Cocktails will use fresh capital to expand its business in India and abroad. It will further infuse money in brand awareness and launch new SKUs. The startup plans to expand via an omnichannel approach with on-premise, QSRs, CSD touchpoints.

Founded by Ankur Bhatia and Nitin Bhardwaj in 2019, Jimmy’s Cocktails offers ready-to-drink cocktail mixers to consumers. It claims to have served over 6 Mn cocktails within three months of 2022. 

The startup reported a 2X revenue growth in FY22 and 40% of its revenue comes from Tier 2 and 3 cities. While the startup has not disclosed its revenue, in a previous conversation with Inc42, it claimed to be eyeing an ARR of $3 Mn in FY22.

Jimmy’s products are available at over 6K FMCG retail outlets, wine shops in more than 50 cities and it also has a presence on quick delivery platforms including Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Blinkit. 

It plans to take this number to 25K outlets and 3X its ARR in FY23. It has also started exporting its products to Australia, South Africa and the Indian subcontinent countries.

In March 2021, it raised INR 6 Cr in a bridge round from First State Stewart Asia’s Vinay Agarwal and HDFC’s Keki Mistry alongside existing investors. Previously in 2019, it raised INR 2.5 Cr in a seed funding round from investors including Ankur Bhatia, Mirza Baig, Ekcle Ventures, CLSA’s Anirudh Somani, T&T Motors’ Vidur Talwar, Inditimes.com’s Angad Bhatia.

75% of alcohol consumption in India takes place at home, but cocktails are not one of those categories. Interestingly, cocktails remain one of the highest sales drivers at top Indian bars, contributing up to 30% of their revenue, or more than INR 2,000 Cr. But they are only available in 3K-odd top bars out of 30K licensed establishments.

Thus, it is natural that the quality non-alcoholic drinks market is expected to grow. According to a Statista report, the market for non-alcoholic drinks is $11 Bn in 2022, of which $ 5.5 Bn accounts for the hard and soft drinks (including cocktail), expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.04%.

Eyeing a chunk of this market, Jimmy’s Cocktails competes with the likes of PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Hector Beverages and Red Bull.