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Bengaluru-based RTD cocktail startup O’ Be Cocktails on Monday announced it raised its first round of investment of Rs 3.5 crore led by First Cheque, Letsventure, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati from Ola, Abhishek Goyal (Founder, Tracxn), and Sprout Investments. 

The startup will use the investment to fund its core strategy of growing sales through retailers and continue increasing its production of a new premium range of cocktails.

The global ready to drink cocktails market size is expected to reach $1775.1 million by 2028, registering a CAGR of 12 percent over the forecast period as per Research and Market global report. 

According to Goldstein Market Intelligence, India is the third-largest alcoholic beverage market, after China and Russia, estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.4 percent during 2017-2030.

With most of the country under lockdown and restricted movement, RTD beverage sales spiked last year, and with an increase in consumers who prefer to drink their cocktails at home, O’ Be Cocktails identified a gap in the market for premium ready to drink cocktails that could be experienced anytime and anywhere.

“Everyone loves a cocktail, but not everyone has the know-how or means to make one at the comfort of their homes. The Indian alcohol market is still in very early stages of growth on per capita consumption and premiumisation. With O’ Be Cocktails, we have seen tremendous response from consumers and an even greater amount of demand for RTD alcoholic beverages. Our aim is to become the pioneers of the ready to drink category growth with the right blend of product, brand, and sales,” said Nitesh Prakash, Founder and CEO of O’ Be Cocktails.

 “The Indian alcohol market is a huge, fast-growing $35 billion market. We, however, haven’t seen much product innovation from the incumbents over the past few years despite newer categories like Ready-To-Drink cocktails gaining lots of ground internationally. We believe the time is ripe for ready-to-drink cocktails to take the Indian market by storm, and we love the product and brand that Nitesh and the team are building,” said Kushal Bhagia, CEO, FirstCheque.vc.

The startup offers crafted drinks such as O’ be Fab Cosmopolitan, O’ be lively LIIT, and O’ be Zesty Mojito, ranging across premium spirits. The brand is available in 200 premium stores and has recorded growth and consumer reception for cocktails across Bengaluru and Goa. 

In FY21-22, the startup aims to launch new cocktail variants and reach to 1000+ outlets across other urban markets.