Bonhomia Raises $500K In Bridge Round Of Funding

The premium tea and coffee capsules brand Bonhomia has raised $500K in a Bridge round of funding. The round was subscribed by most of its existing shareholders as well as some new investors including Valpro Capital (the company behind the capital raising platform Enablers) and an entrepreneur running  one of India’s largest consumer electronics companies.

The company is currently in talks with potential strategic investors for investments.

Launched in March 2014 by Indulge Beverages, it is owned by Kunal Bhagat (INSEAD alumnus, ex investment banker) and Tuhin Jain. Its espresso coffee capsule portfolio that offers a range of signature blends with varying intensities and flavours to suit the palate of Indian consumers.

Their capsules and brewing machines are widely available across all modern trade formats such as Croma, Foodhall, Hypercity & Nature’s Basket. The company plans to leverage their strong distribution and manufacturing capabilities to grow exponentially in the coming months and gain a larger share of the estimated $500 Mn plus and rapidly growing Indian Retail Coffee Market.

In April 2015, it raised $2 Mn in two tranches from a group of super angels including Kanwaljit Singh, Shripad Nadkarni, Apurva Salarpuria, Ashok Dhingra, Nita Mirchandani, Sarvesh Sahara , Ramrod Advisors, Gidwani family, Tolmolbol, and Nitesh Kripalani.

Kanwaljit Singh, Founder Fireside Ventures said, “For an investor, industry potential and Management’s execution capability are the two most important factors that count when choosing a startup. Bonhomia is the perfect fit in that sense. The company we believe can be a game-changer in the gourmet coffee industry and we are just backing the winning horse.”

Over the past decade, the appeal for coffee has grown across India, particularly in urban areas. Factors such as globalisation, an expanding middle class, rising disposable incomes and changing lifestyle have all contributed to the increase in coffee consumption in the country. The capsule format has already become the dominant consumption format in western nations with brands like Nespresso & Keurig clocking Multi-billion dollar revenues and Bonhomia aims to build a similar empire in India.

“The introduction of our single serve brewers to the retail consumers about 9 months ago has exhibited the huge consumer pull for the category as transactions on our own online platform bonhomiaworld.com have jump-shifted by over 20 times ” added Tuhin Jain, Co-founder & CMO Indulge Beverages.

The company has shared that the business revenue has grown 10 times over last year particularly led by the increased demand of the product in the retail channel. Bonhomia has already set up over 60 consumer experience zones across the country, and plans to expand the same to more than 150 before the year end, given the strong consumer traction.