B9 Beverages Ltd founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Ankur Jain has been asked to resign and is expected to exit as early as this week, according to two persons familiar with the matter, as investors and lenders move to stabilise the cash-strapped craft beer maker, where production was halted around September last year.
The leadership reset will come this week with the appointment of a new CEO. "Salary delays as a result of financial mismanagement have run into several crores. There is also vendor pressure and the risk of insolvency proceedings, even as stakeholders are hoping for an out-of-court restructuring," the first of the two person cited earlier said, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Existing investors are also ready to infuse around ₹400 crore at a sharp valuation cut, with an option to add another ₹100 crore," this person told Mint.
The development comes even as financial stress at B9 Beverages, which makes the Bira 91 beer variants, has spilled into the open. "Ankur (Jain) had delayed signing his exit but a consensus has now been reached," the second person said. His exit is likely to pave the way for a professional management team to take over and a lender-backed restructuring of the company.
The beer company, launched in 2015, was among India’s most prominent venture-backed consumer brands, with marquee investors including Peak XV Partners, Anicut Capital, Sofina and Kirin Holdings. However, a funding squeeze and operational disruptions over the past two years have weighed on the business.
Bira 91 (B9 Beverages) was last valued at approximately $625 million following a $50 million funding round, with Kirin Holdings investing in early 2024, as per media reports.
Mint reached out to Jain and the company’s investors for comment, but their responses were still awaited at the time of going to press. A representative of Kirin said: "At this stage, we do not have any information to share regarding the matters you raised."
In March, dozens of former employees staged a protest outside Jain’s residence in New Delhi’s Defence Colony, alleging months of unpaid salaries and non-deposit of statutory dues even after exiting the company. About 50 former staff gathered for what organisers described as a silent demonstration, saying delayed wages, pending provident fund deposits, and tax discrepancies have disrupted loan repayments, healthcare access, and household finances.
At that time, Jain in an email told Mint that the company’s packaged beer business had been on pause since the third quarter of FY26 and that there had been no fresh capital infusion since April 2024. He said employee dues, statutory liabilities and vendor payments remained unchanged during this period, while the company operated on a lean cost structure, adding that estimates of ₹100 crore in employee-related statutory dues were inflated.
Jain also said discussions with investors were at an advanced stage and expected to conclude by the end of the fiscal year, with fresh capital likely to help restart operations and settle liabilities in an orderly manner. But as of March 31, there was no visible progress, despite that being the deadline by which Jain was expected to have signed his exit documentation.
Fizzle lost
The financial strain at B9 began to surface in late 2024, nearly nine years after the company started operations, when salary and vendor payments began to be delayed. What initially appeared to be short-term cash flow issues soon deepened through 2025, with production halts, employee exits and rising statutory dues compounding the pressure. By late 2025, operations had largely come to a standstill, as funding remained constrained and liabilities continued to weigh on the business.
Today, those in the know say B9 has no active employees. In January 2025, Mint reported that B9 had received tax notices from the Maharashtra government to the tune of ₹26 crore, adding to its woes.
More recently, the company also faced increasing pressure from vendors and lenders. "Some creditors like Devyani International (the company behind KFC and Pizza Hut which worked with B9) had also initiated proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Investors have, however, been working to avoid a formal insolvency process that could erode brand value, and are instead pursuing an out-of-court resolution to save the brand," the first person cited above said.
As part of the plan, the fresh funding ( ₹400 crore) will come at a steep valuation cut, with participation from a mix of existing backers and new investors, including domestic family offices. The capital would be used to clear outstanding liabilities, restart operations, and rebuild the business under a new leadership, the persons quoted above said.
Japan's beer maker Kirin Holdings owns a 20.3% stake in the company, while Jain and his family, including his mother and wife, hold 17.8%, which he is said to have pledged to other high net-worth individual (HNI) shareholders within the company, the first person said. The company last raised $25 million in June 2024 through external commercial borrowings from Kirin.
Institutional investors collectively hold the largest share in B9 Beverages, accounting for about 28.6%, with Peak XV leading the group alongside Sofina, Sixth Sense, MUFG Bank, Tiger Pacific, Mayfield, and GHIQF Mauritius.
In October, Mint reported that several large institutional investors were evaluating a plan to remove Jain amid concerns over his management of the financially-stressed business, and had indicated a willingness to infuse fresh capital contingent on a leadership change.
Separately, investors and lenders are preparing to formally seek an extraordinary general meeting, according to the persons cited earlier.
From its latest available financials, revenue from operations fell to ₹638.5 crore in FY24 from ₹824.3 crore a year earlier, while losses widened to ₹748.8 crore from ₹445.4 crore.
