Radiohead Brands launches Hustle Energy Drink

Four-year-old Gurgaon-based startup Radiohead Brands, makers of the category-leading brand Jimmy, market leaders in the mixers space, announced its transformation into a multi-beverage brands company, broadening its offerings beyond Jimmy’s Cocktails and Sparkling Mixers. As part of this expansion, the company introduces the ‘Hustle’ energy drink, conceived to disrupt the energy drinks category.

This strategic portfolio expansion reflects the brand’s vision to build the premium beverage category in India and its commitment to delivering exceptional taste and unrivaled drinking experiences to a broader audience.

Radiohead also announced its recent fundraising to fund this expansion, an extension of its earlier Pre-Series A round. The company’s valuation grew 3x over the last year and 20x over the last three years since it started its operations. Prath Ventures led the round, which also saw participation from prominent angels like Vijay Shekhar Sharma of (PayTM) and Neel Bahl. Existing investors Keki Mistry (HDFC), Vishesh Khurana (Shiprocket), 7Square Ventures, Vidur Talwar (T&T Motors), and Anirudh Somani (CLSA). The company raised Rs 14 crores last March in an investment round led by Roots Ventures.

Founded by Ankur Bhatia & Nitin Bhardwaj in 2019, its first brand, Jimmy's, claims to have moved ahead of all other start-ups competing in the same space, having served over 12 million drinks in FY'23. It now plans to use its deep category experience, already established route to market, and unique ability to build brands fast and frugally to dominate the premium energy drinks segment.

Speaking about the fundraise, Ankur Bhatia, founder and chief executive officer of Radiohead Brands, said, "Almost all categories in India have seen consumers' willingness to upgrade to better quality products and pay a premium for it, be it in technology, real estate, fashion, automobiles or spirits. However, the packaged beverage category is stuck at the lower end of the price segment, which is unique to the Indian subcontinent. We are disrupting this and building a multi-beverage company at the premium end with better quality products built on the back of sharp positioning and clutter-breaking packaging."

The company plans to enter several new categories in open white spaces still untapped by the beverage majors over the next few years. It aims to reach Rs 100 crore revenue run-rate this year and build a Rs 1000 crore revenue company within the decade. In FY23, Radiohead Brands' revenues grew over 75%, and the brand Jimmy's is now available at over 20,000 retail outlets, wine shops, prominent bars in over 50 cities, and all leading e-commerce. The brand also operates a D2C business delivering from their website DrinkJimmys.com to over 400 cities in India.

Regarding its plans, Nitin Bhardwaj, co-founder and chief operating officer of Radiohead Brands, said, "We have a ready platform to launch Hustle with the route to market already built on the back of Jimmy's. We see immense potential in the energy drinks segment. With our sharp brand positioning and teams with deep category experience, we are confident we will also be a dominant player in this category."

The company started online testing and sales of Hustle almost two years earlier, AB testing with consumers and perfecting its recipe and packaging design. The final Hustle Energy Drink product is made in Dubai and comes in a single classic flavor in a 250ml premium CAN. It is priced at Rs 60.

As per Piyush Goenka, founder of Prath Ventures, "Radiohead Brands is our play on the high-growth premium beverages segment in India. Ankur and Nitin are the best teams to build in this market, with a strong understanding of brand building and distribution. The company's products have huge customer love and are well accepted by the trade. We believe the company is set to emerge as a leading premium beverage player in a few years with a diversified portfolio of brands and products."

Price of Hustle Energy Drink - Rs 60 for a 250ML Can.

Available at – HustleEnergyDrink.com & select major retail outlets

Price of Jimmy's Cocktails - Rs 99 for a 250ML glass bottle.

Price of Jimmy’s Tonic Water, Classic Lemonade& Ginger Ale - Rs 60 for a 250ML Can