In the latest Indian D2C news, Kumbayah Kombucha, a beverage startup from Kerala, is quietly becoming a well-known kombucha brand as the market for these types of drinks grows in India. Created by Arvind Mohan and Ashvini Birghoffer, the brand started as a small project at home and has turned into a fast-growing D2C beverage company, selling over 1.5 million bottles each year in South India.
The company is part of a trend of new D2C food and beverage brands changing what we expect from drinks through fermentation, small-scale production, and simple ingredients. In the Indian D2C world, kombucha is becoming popular and can be found in cafes, online platforms, and stores as people look for healthier drinks.
Kumbayah Kombucha was officially started in 2021, but its story began earlier when founder Arvind Mohan started experimenting with fermentation around 2015. He was looking for natural ways to help his digestion. This personal project got the interest of friends and people in his community, and it eventually became a beverage brand in India.
Kombucha is a drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with a culture of bacteria and yeast. The fermentation process makes it fizzy, gives it different flavors, and creates good bacteria for your gut. This process is very important to Kumbayah Kombucha.
Unlike many big beverage companies, Kumbayah Kombucha ferments its kombucha for 20 to 30 days. This allows the drink to make flavor and probiotics naturally. The brand doesn’t use pasteurisation or artificial carbonation, which keeps the living cultures in the kombucha. This shows that consumers in India are leaning toward real, less processed products in the wellness market.
Arvind Mohan’s path to starting a beverage company is unique. He used to be a Hindustani classical musician, performing and teaching for years. His co-founder, Ashvini Birghoffer, is from France and has a background in cooking and also studied Indian classical music. They met at a music school in Bhopal and combined their interests in flavor, fermentation, and craft to create Kumbayah Kombucha.
Ashvini helped organize the startup by creating fermentation schedules, standard procedures, and quality systems to keep things consistent as production increased. This mix of craft brewing and structured operations shows how the D2C business model is changing in India, where authentic products and the ability to grow are both important.
The brand has grown a lot since its early days. Starting with about ₹30,000, the company has seen almost 2000% growth each year, mainly driven by demand in southern India. Kumbayah Kombucha made ₹15 crore in revenue in FY25 and expects to make ₹25 crore in FY26, which shows it is doing well in the food and beverage market.
Today, Kumbayah Kombucha is available in Kerala, Madurai, Coimbatore, Chennai, Pondicherry, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. You can find the brand in cafes, Kerala restaurants, stores, hotels, and online platforms like Swiggy Instamart. It is also in fine-dining places like Yuki, which shows that it is becoming more accepted in India’s beverage scene.
The startup’s strategy is simple: good production at prices that people can pay. Bottles start at ₹125 for 275 ml, which allows the brand to reach cafe customers and everyday people.
The kombucha market in India reached $100.8 million in 2024 and is expected to grow by 16–20% each year, potentially reaching $439–460 million by 2033. This growth is part of the trend where people are buying functional and fermented drinks.
Even with its rapid growth, Kumbayah Kombucha is profitable and not looking for more funding right now. The company wants to grow carefully and stick to its fermentation-based approach. It plans to strengthen its presence in Hyderabad and expand into Mumbai and Delhi by early 2027.
Looking ahead, the founders want to build a ₹100 crore brand by 2028, making Kumbayah Kombucha one of the fastest-growing food and beverage brands in India. For those following D2C news, Kumbayah Kombucha shows how brands can grow in India’s D2C market.
