O’Be Cocktails Shuts Down Operations After Over Five Years
O’Be Cocktails, a startup specialising in alcoholic beverages, has ceased its operations following more than five years in the industry. Nitesh Prakash, the founder and CEO of O’Be Cocktails, expressed that shutting down the brand was an incredibly tough choice. However, moving forward, the direction of the company could not be justified. After thorough reflection and analysis, it became clear that the alcobev sector is not consumer-driven but rather a commodified industry, which does not resonate with their vision of providing a premium and accessible cocktail experience to consumers.
Prakash further mentioned that for the past year, every possible effort was made to locate a suitable buyer for O’Be Cocktails to ensure a continuous flow of their products, but all potential avenues for a sale had been exhausted.
In August 2021, O’Be Cocktails secured funding of Rs 3.5 crore through an angel round spearheaded by First Cheque, Letsventure, Bhavish Aggarwal from Ola, Tracxn’s Abhishek Goyal, and Sprout Investments. Additionally, in November 2023, the Bengaluru-based startup received an undisclosed sum during a pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures.
The brand previously offered a diverse array of drinks, available in Goa and Bengaluru, and claimed that its cocktails were refined through over a hundred iterations to achieve a consistent flavour for its customers.
O’Be Cocktails operated not only in India but also in Bhutan and nine Indian states. The company highlighted that it benefitted from a network of 22 private distributors and held two government contracts, which allowed its products to reach more than 1,700 premium wine outlets.
Other companies competing in this space include Jimmy’s Cocktails, Gateway Brewing, Bira 91, and Medusa. In a recent discussion, Avneet Singh, the founder of Medusa, pointed out the lack of support for the alcoholic beverages industry in terms of business facilitation, despite its role as a significant revenue generator for state governments in India.
