Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, has invested an undisclosed amount in Teabox, a speciality tea start-up.
Teabox sources premium teas directly from plantations in Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiris and Nepal. It sells these products online and then ships them to customers all over the world. The company will use the funds to expand its operations globally.
“We have grown up admiring and respecting his (Mr. Tata) vision and business acumen on scaling the Tata Group to a global level,” said Kaushal Dugar, 32-year-old founder of Teabox. “His direct guidance and experience in the tea industry will surely help us grow Teabox to be the first global premium tea brand from India.”
The three-year-old firm has delivered 60,000 kg of tea, equal to over 30 million cups of tea, to customers in 93 countries. The Siliguri-based firm has attracted consumers from regions such as Ural Mountains in Russia and Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean.
Experts say that tea companies in India have continued to rely on a legacy supply chain that has existed since the estates were first set up by British and Scottish planters.
For instance, the traditional tea route takes between six to eight months for teas, once produced, to reach the consumer. By that time, it loses its freshness and also become expensive due to the intermediaries involved.
Teabox said it was disrupting the $40 billion (Rs.2.7 lakh crore) tea industry with its innovations in technology and supply chain. It has developed its own supply chain model where it controls the sourcing, distribution and marketing of tea. It protects the tea from moisture, light, heat and oxygen using technologies such as vacuum packaging and cold storage.
The algorithms developed by the firm help new tea drinkers to decide whether to buy tea like ‘Margaret’s Hope Moonlight Spring White’ or ‘Kashmiri Kahwa’ by analysing their taste preferences. Teabox has also developed software that helps it calculate the best logistical route in different parts of the world.
“It will take us just one week to deliver tea in places like Russia instead of almost a month,” said Mr. Dugar whose firm is backed by investors such as American billionaire Robert M. Bass and Accel Partners. It sells tea products ranging in costs from Rs.5,000 to Rs.1.5 lakh per kg.
Mr. Tata, who steered India’s biggest industrial group for two decades, is now among India’s top angel investors by the number of deals. In the last two years, he has backed about 21 companies such as baby care retailer FirstCry, online pet care platform Dogspot and electric vehicle firm Ampere. However, the tea industry is not something new for him.
He was the Chairman of the Tata Group in 2000 when it acquired U.K.’s Tetley Tea, inventor of the teabag and a maker of the traditional English cuppa.
