Indian craft beer brand Bira 91 has raised Rs 40 crore ($6m) in a new funding round from a group of investors led by Sequoia Capital.

The investment is the first made by Sequoia Capital in the alcoholic beverage sector.

The venture capital firm has earlier invested in the Paperboat branded soft drinks firm Hector Beverages.

Bira 91 plans to use the money raised from the Series A round of funding for marketing and to open a new facility in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Zomato’s Deepinder Goyal, ChrysCapital co-founder Ashish Dhawan, and Mayank Singhal of Singapore state investment arm Temasek have also participated in the round.

Founded by Ankur Jain, Bira 91 was launched in February 2015 with the aim to increase the demand for craft beer in the urban market of India.

The brand currently sells two varieties of beers, Bira White and Bira Blonde.The beer is currently available in restaurants in and around several of the Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and others.

Jain was quoted by the Times of India as saying: "We’ve been able to achieve penetration of 70% in all our markets within a year.

"We’ve also clocked a 30% share in the premium segment without a single dollar spent on traditional marketing.

Bira 91 currently contracts its manufacturing across several breweries, including one in Belgium. The brand is claimed to sell 20,000 cases per month with a monthly growth of 30%.