The Brewmaster's Blueprint: Ishan Varshnei's Quest to Build a Billion-Dollar Beverage Empire with Maka Di & Borécha
Meet Ishan Varshnei, the nanoengineer-turned-entrepreneur behind Maka Di beer & Borécha kombucha. Discover the strategy, science, and stats of his venture.
What do you get when you combine a Nanoengineering graduate from UC San Diego, a Materials Science expert from Columbia University, and a passion for home-brewing beer in a tiny New York apartment? You get Ishan Varshnei, the CEO of Latambarcem Brewers, a company aiming to redefine India's beverage landscape. Ishan’s journey from a high-stakes Blackstone portfolio fund to the breweries of Goa is a masterclass in building a business on the bedrock of product innovation, scientific rigor, and sustainable growth.
Check out the video of the conversation here or read on for insights.
🔬 From Nano-Labs to Brewhouse: The Making of an Entrepreneur
Ishan Varshnei’s path to the beverage industry is anything but conventional. Raised in North India and educated in Ooty, he moved to the US at 18. His academic journey took him to San Diego for his undergrad and then to New York for his Master’s, culminating in degrees in Nanoengineering and Materials Science & Engineering from the University of California, San Diego, and Columbia University, respectively. It was in San Diego, amidst a craft beer revolution where over 200 breweries popped up, that the seeds of his passion were sown. He witnessed people turning their backyard brewing hobbies into world-class, award-winning businesses.
This inspiration turned into a hobby in his own 700-square-foot New York apartment, much to his roommates' chagrin. While working as a Business Analyst at DRB Capital, a Blackstone-associated fund, the monotony of a 9-to-5 life pushed him towards his true calling.
I really started hating my job... the monotony of life in New York, where you'd just be working for the weekend, where you're looking forward to the Friday and Saturday nights and then you're back to your routine on Monday. I wanted to be a little bit more creative.
This wasn't just a fleeting thought. Backed by a family steeped in entrepreneurship—his father from glassware and real estate, and his mother a serial entrepreneur—Ishan decided to move not back to India, but specifically to Goa, to start his business. The family bootstrapped the venture with a significant Rs 25 crore, a testament to their shared belief in the vision.
🍺 Maka Di vs. Borécha: A Tale of Two Brands
Latambarcem Brewers operates on a unique dual-brand strategy, tackling two distinct but burgeoning markets simultaneously. The synergy, as Ishan explains, lies not in sales, but in the operational backbone: manufacturing, operations, logistics, and marketing all share a common infrastructure, run by a single, agile team.
Maka Di: Give Me "Truly Craft" Beer
The name "Maka Di" is Konkani for "Give Me," a name that embodies the brand's philosophy of offering a beer for every personality. Launched in October 2020, Maka Di is built on the principle that "craft" is defined by technique and innovation, not size.
The Beer: The portfolio includes a range of eight craft beers, from a crisp Rice Lager and a Belgian Blanche (wheat beer) to stronger European-style ales like a Belgian Tripel and a Honey Ale.
The Differentiator: The focus is on quality ingredients—Valencia oranges, malts from Europe, and wild organic honey from Jim Corbett National Park—and a meticulous, 25-day fermentation and maturation process.
The Scale: The brewery has the capacity to produce 10,000 cases of beer per month, positioning it as a significant player in India's "truly" craft scene.
Pricing (in Goa): Prices range from Rs 79 for the Rice Lager to Rs 160 for the premium ales.
Borécha: The Good Tea Revolution
"Borécha" translates to "Good Tea" in Konkani (Bori meaning good, and Cha for tea). This brand was a serendipitous creation. While waiting for the brewery's construction to complete, Ishan started making kombucha at home. His brother, Anish Varshnei, a Culinary Science graduate and the company's Chief Production Officer, perfected the recipe, and a new business was born.
He did some research and he made a batch of kombucha for me and it came out phenomenally. To a point like whoever came home, we'd give them a glass and they'd be like, what is this?
The Products: Borécha has expanded from its core kombucha line into a full-fledged functional beverage brand. Its offerings include:
Probiotic Kombuchas: Low-sugar and zero-sugar variants.
Sparkling Iced Teas.
Functional Sodas: A new zero-sugar, probiotic-rich range sub-branded as "Banta," featuring nostalgic Indian flavors like Masala Cola and Soda Shikanji.
The Unfair Advantage: Borécha's core strength lies in its patented, re-engineered SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). Developed using advanced scientific methods like metagenomics and 16S rRNA sequencing, this proprietary culture yields a better-tasting, more consistent product with an extended shelf life—a significant technological moat.
Pricing & Positioning: Borécha targets everyone from the health-conscious consumer to the mass market, with prices ranging from Rs 35 for its mass-market functional sodas to Rs 160 for its premium probiotic kombuchas.
📈 The Numbers Game: Revenue, Funding, and a Path to 500 Crores
Latambarcem Brewers is not just a passion project; it's a rapidly growing business with solid financials and ambitious targets.
Annual Revenue Run Rate: The company currently operates at a run rate of Rs 30 crores (approx. Rs 2.5 to 3 crores per month).
Revenue Split: The business is perfectly balanced, with 50% of revenue coming from the alcohol division (Maka Di) and 50% from the non-alcoholic division (Borécha and other drinks).
Profitability: In a sector known for high cash burn, Latambarcem Brewers is already EBITDA positive as of the last quarter of the previous financial year.
Funding: After being bootstrapped for four years with family funds, the company raised its first external round in July 2024—a pre-Series A round of Rs 120 million (approx. $1.5 million) from a consortium of angel investors, including Dhruv Agarwala, Co-founder and CEO of REA India.
Ambitious Growth: Ishan projects a 400% growth this financial year and has a five-year forecast to hit an annual revenue of over Rs 500 crore. The company aims to achieve Rs 3 billion in annual revenue within three years.
I'll be honest with you, the projection, I had made a five year projection for a Kombucha business back in 2019. And what I projected as my revenue for year five, which 2025, for the entire year, I did it in one month.
🎯 Cracking the Distribution Code
The company's success is also a story of cracking complex distribution channels, especially in the FMCG space.
Borécha's Distribution Split:
30% Quick Commerce: (Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit).
30% Institutional: Airlines (Akasa, Air India Express), hotels, and cruises.
20% General & Modern Trade.
10% Other sources (including their own e-commerce and vending machines).
Quick Commerce Masterclass: Ishan's approach to quick commerce is exceptionally lean. While he notes some brands spend 40-50% of their GMV on ads and discounts, Latambarcem Brewers spends under 10%. They achieve this by building a strong product pull through organic brand-building and product differentiation, making the channel profitable.
📜 Navigating the Maze: Cracking India's Alcohol Industry
Selling alcohol in India is notoriously difficult, a fact Ishan acknowledges. Each state is its own country with unique rules, taxes, and distribution models.
This business, even though, as you said, is like completely plagued with all sorts of red tape and difficulties in terms of licensing and distribution, all sorts of that thing. It was a purely passion driven project.
Goa: Private distribution and private retail make it one of the easiest states to operate in, with lower taxes.
Kerala: The entire system is state-controlled, from the distribution corporation (KSBC) to the retail outlets. Payment only comes after the product is sold to the end consumer.
Delhi: Has reverted to a government-run retail model, making market entry incredibly expensive. The cost to register a single beer label is Rs 17 lakhs per year, compared to just Rs 22,000 in Goa.
Maharashtra: Policies heavily favor local manufacturing. Beer shipped from outside the state faces an excise duty of 150%, plus a 55% VAT, making it nearly impossible for outside players to compete on price.
Ishan's strategy is to find supportive channel partners who believe in the brand and to only enter states where there is a clear path to profitability, avoiding a "growth at all costs" mindset.
💡 The Innovation Engine: Science as a Moat
At its core, Latambarcem Brewers is a product-first company. Ishan's scientific background is not just a trivia point; it's the company's central nervous system.
Our entire principle was to be manufacturing first. That's what helps us differentiate ourselves. Today, if somebody wants to copy my product, it's a two-year turnaround for them. By then I'll have five new things in the market that's already setting me apart again.
This philosophy is evident in their:
In-house R&D Labs: Separate, dedicated R&D teams for Maka Di and Borécha are constantly experimenting, with over 50 beer recipes in the works at any time.
Proprietary Assets: The patented SCOBY for Borécha is the prime example of creating a defensible asset through science.
Focus on Consistency: Ishan emphasizes that a product should taste the same in Goa in 2020 as it does in the US in 2028, building the trust and loyalty that creates iconic brands.
🎭 The Shark Tank Pitch
Ishan also shared the creative and unaired pitch they prepared for Shark Tank India, where the family took on different roles.
They made my mom the judge. They made me the advocate for Borecha and they made my brother the advocate for Maka. And essentially we went on stage and I am putting forward my case for why Borecha is the best brand. And he, my brother had to put forward the case to why Marka is the best brand. And then she was the judge who basically said, okay, you both are really good. So let's come together and form one company, which is Latambarcem Brewers.
🌍 The Global Goa Brand: Vision for the Future
Ishan Varshnei is playing the long game. The vision for Latambarcem Brewers extends far beyond the shores of Goa.
International Footprint: Maka Di is already available in 8 US states and 4 Canadian provinces. Borécha is in the UAE and 7 European countries, with plans to expand to 11 more with the new funding.
Sustainable Growth: The goal is to build a sustainable company that doesn't rely on heavy marketing spends for survival. The focus is on organic growth, word-of-mouth marketing, and building a loyal customer base that loves the product.
I feel pumping in money is not necessarily always the solution because today you will get those numbers till you're pumping in that money. Will it sustain after you stop pumping that money?
The Billion-Dollar Dream: Backed by his family and investors, Ishan is clear about the ultimate goal: to build Latambarcem Brewers into a globally recognized, billion-dollar enterprise that elevates the perception of Indian beverages worldwide.
Ishan Varshnei’s journey is a powerful reminder that in the modern startup world, there are multiple paths to success. His is a path paved not with blitzscaling and cash burn, but with patience, persistence, and a fanatical commitment to the product. It’s a thesis that seems to be brewing up a storm.
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