Teabox raises $7 mn to expand offline

Online tea retailer Vahdam Teas announced $1.4 mn Series A funding earlier in the week

Premium tea brand TeaBox said it has raised $7 million in fresh funding with a combination of equity and venture debt from Singapore-based RB Investments and Singapore-based DBS bank, which it will invest in building infrastructure and expand offline.

“We are excited about backing the challenger in a large category with a demanding customer. We feel that Teabox’s dynamic team and its innovative supply chain of tea from plantations to cup will enable them to provide the freshest tea to consumers worldwide and redefine the category,” said Harshavardhan Bothra from RB Investments.

The five-year old brand markets largely in US and Russia apart from India. It claims to have sold over 40 million cups of premium Indian teas to consumers across more than 112 countries. The company sources from over 150 tea plantations across the Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiris and Nepal and a unique tea bag packaging technique that is pending patent rights.

Previous investors in the company include Accel, JAFCO Asia, Keystone Group and Dragoneer Investment Group who had collectively helped raise $6 million in Series A and $1 million seed funding.

“We are perhaps the only global tea brand to have an extremely strong digital presence that has fuelled our growth so far. And that only helps us further our growth when we go multi-channel to create a 360-degree experience for the customer through offline formats,” said Kaushal Dugar, Founder-CEO, TeaBox.

Earlier in the week another online tea retailer Vahdam Teas announced $1.4 million Series A funding led by Fireside Venture, Mumbai Angels, Singapore Angel Network and undisclosed existing investors.