Chai Break Bags Rs 5 crore for Its Expansion

The fastest-growing Korean fusion cuisine and Boba tea company in India, ‘Boba Bhai’ has raised INR 30 crore in its Series A fundraising round. Global Growth Capital, DEVC, Titan Capital Winners Fund, and current investors joined 8i Ventures in leading the round. The quick expansion and market dominance of Boba Bhai after its October 2023 launch are demonstrated by this funding. 

The funds will be used to scale operations in current markets, create new sub-brands that are suited to changing customer preferences, launch creative menu items, and increase the brand's visibility in new locations. Boba Bhai also wants to improve customer experiences at all of its sites and bolster its operational expertise.

Speaking on the funding round, Dhruv Kohli, Founder and CEO, Boba Bhai, said, “This investment marks a pivotal milestone in our journey to gain more market share in Bubble Tea and build the world’s largest Bubble Tea and K-pop QSR Chain from India. Over the past nine months, we’ve witnessed incredible growth, driven by our commitment to innovation, quality, and customer satisfaction. With the strategic backing of our investors, we are well-positioned to scale our operations, introduce exciting new offerings, and establish Boba Bhai as the go-to QSR brand for the next generation of Indian consumers.”

The investors were drawn to Boba Bhai’s impressive performance metrics, including strong growth, high customer repeat rates, and its ability to lead the fusion QSR segment with innovative product offerings.

“Boba Bhai is the clear market leader of the bubble tea category and is a much-loved brand among the GenZ in India. We were struck by the velocity and the operational excellence demonstrated by Dhruv & team and is delighted to partner with them,” shares Vishwanath V, General Partner at 8i Ventures.

Shiv Kapoor, Vice President at Titan Capital Winners Fund notes, “We are delighted to back Boba Bhai in this latest round. Having been amongst the first investors in the company, we have seen Dhruv’s execution chops. He has quickly built a business with strong economics and customer love. We believe Boba Bhai will become synonymous with the embracing of Korean pop culture in India.”

Boba Bhai's immediate plans include expanding its presence to new regions and launching its highly anticipated Korean inspired ice cream range nationwide, which is currently available in select Bengaluru outlets and aims to make these ice creams accessible to customers across India. This funding supports Boba Bhai's vision of redefining the Indian F&B landscape and creating a legacy as a category-defining brand in the fusion QSR space. 

Vahdam India, a global wellness brand, and Goodricke Group Limited today announced a strategic procurement partnership to make available their teas via VAHDAM’s global distribution network.

Goodricke owns reputed tea estates like Castleton, Margaret’s Hope, Badamtam, Barnesbeg and Thurbo in Darjeeling as well as top estates in Assam like Amgoorie, Dejoo, Harmutty, Nonaipara and Borpatra.

Also Read: Vahdam Tea launches organic turmeric latte

“We are glad to formalize our partnership with Goodricke Group which owns some iconic tea estates in Darjeeling and Assam. Our partnership goes beyond procurement of teas : VAHDAM® is also actively working in Goodricke in many tea estates to provide digital learning programs to the children as a part of our TEAch Me social initiative” said Bala Sarda, Founder & CEO, VAHDAM®  India.

At the heart of the partnership is VAHDAM® India’s direct sourcing that procures directly from producers and ensures that farmers get optimum realisation.

“we are glad to partner with a fast-growing and dynamic company like VAHDAM® India whose global ecosystem of consumers in over 130 countries can open so many new opportunities and avenues in the years to come,” added Atul Asthana, CEO & MD of Goodricke Group.

With a net revenue run rate of 200 crores, VAHDAM India is now India’s largest home-grown teas & superfoods brand. It has raised over US$17 million in venture funding from some of India’s top investors including Fireside Ventures, Sixth Sense Ventures, Mankind Pharma, SAR Group, Urmin Group, Chona Family and entrepreneurs like Kris Gopalkrishnan, Pankaj Chaddha, Amrish Rau amongst others.

May Interest: Vahdam Teas Bags Rs 11 Crore From Fireside Venture

Recently, VAHDAM partnered with BYJU’S, World’s most highly valued ed-tech and digital learning company, to make available access to high quality education to children in the Indian tea industry. Together, they have committed full academic program access to over 50,000 children by 2023.

Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) will acquire the branded packet tea business of Dhunseri Tea & Industries for an aggregate consideration of Rs 101 crore. The move is in line with TGBL’s ambition to grow its branded tea business in India.

Dhunseri branded tea business has two brands, including Lalghoda and Kalaghoda, which together make up 5% of the total banded tea market and are market leaders in Rajasthan. The deal doesn’t include Dhunseri Tea’s smaller brands ‘Chhote Lal’ and ‘Dhunseri Gold’, since the two brands have no commercial value.

The acquisition will be helping the company to expand its tea business in regional markets such as Rajasthan.

CK Dhanuka, Chairman of Dhunseri Tea and Industries, said, “The FMCG business (packet tea) is a different ballgame and a plantation is another, we know our strengths. We are on the lookout to buy more plantations in Africa.”

Luxmi Tea, which owns the iconic Makaibari brand has decided to set up 100 exclusive stores across the country in the next three years, said a top official.

At present, there are 10 such stores located in prominent malls in the city.

"We plan to set up 100 exclusive Makaibari branded stores in the country in the next three years. During the current fiscal, the number of stores will increase to 30,” said MD Luxmi Tea, Rudra Chatterjee.

Chatterjee said all the stores would be owned by the company and manned by sons and daughters of pluckers of the Makaibari estate in Darjeeling.

"It is a long-term play and I am committed to take the brand to even greater heights," he said.

The stores will also serve the purpose of preventing the sale of fake Makaibari branded tea, which are available at various retail stores in the city.

Some of these exclusive outlets would have tea lounges, the MD said.

Owing to the prolonged agitation in Darjeeling last year, the entire Makaibari crop, except the first flush, was destroyed, leading to a loss of around Rs 3 crore, Chatterjee said.

"This year, we are expecting a good flush. All the international buyers have retained their faith in Makaibari despite its non-availability last year," he said.

The premium garden produces nearly one lakh kg of tea annually, a bulk of which are exported.

The company owns 18 tea gardens 15 in Assam and one each in Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars with an annual production of 15 million kg, which would rise to 16 million kg this year, he added.

Teesta River Tea, a Bangalore based start-up has launched its array of tea products online. The brand has launched its product range in Amazon and plans to sell across selected super markets and stores in Southern India in December 2017.

The move comes at a time when India's tea market is estimated to be over 15,000 crores with a penetration of more than 90 percent in the domestic market.

The Teesta River Tea Company has been promoted by Neeraj Verma, an ex-Hindustan Unilever (HUL) hand with vast experience in the tea industry and Unilever Marketing and Raghvendra Rao, a Chartered Accountant by profession. Neeraj and Raghavendra are determined to bring tea lovers something unique. Teas blended with Super Fruits, Flowers and Herbs are healthy and tasty. Green teas with Rose is a fine blend. The company uses only natural fruits and flavours.

Besides loose teas in packets the company has introduced Lounge Tea brand in Silken Pyramid tea bags which not only allows consumers to see the fruits and flowers along with teas but enables quick infusion.

Teesta Beverages has positioned teas in each key segment. Teesta High Range Tips is a heady blend of super fine Darjeeling and Nepal Himalayan teas with a strong Darjeeling flavor. Teesta Premium CTC teas, a blend of Assam classic teas with Dooars, provide tasty and strong teas to start a refreshing day.

The passion behind Teesta products can be traced back to the owners who believe that tea is the best beverage on the planet. For them, it is an opportunity to give people something that matters to them in their everyday life. The idea now is to help people choose their favorite products from the convenience of their homes.

Neeraj Verma Founder Of Teesta River Tea said “Teesta River Tea differs from other brands because of the fine Silken Pyramid tea bags that preserve the aroma and flavor of its ingredients. We enable consumers to get fresh teas from the bush to the Brand within 15 days compared to other products which take around 3 months. We have no middlemen and garden fresh teas are delivered for blending and tasting from the tea estates in a week. Teesta Beverages with its continuous innovation in tea blending Super fruits and herbs is slowly making its presence felt in Amazon. Response is more than we had imagined. We are now eagerly looking to launch in the Southern Region and we are confident that Teesta Beverages will provide a great experience to the consumer and establish new blends which are popular globally”.

Premium online tea brand Vahdam Teas has raised Rs 9 crore ($1.4 million) in its second round of institutional funding led by consumer focussed fund Fireside Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing investors - Singapore Angel Network, Mumbai Angels and some HNI investors.

Vahdam Teas has raised an additional Rs 2 crore through a secondary transaction with some individual investors in the earlier seed round making an exit this time.

Founder of Fireside Ventures, Kanwaljit Singh, who was formerly with Helion Ventures, will join Vahdam Teas as a member of its board.

The Delhi-based tea maker will use the capital to aggressively market the brand, introduce new products in existing and new categories of teas as also strengthen its warehousing & logistics in the USA which forms its key market, driving over 70% of the firm’s sales.

Bala Sarda, Founder of Vahdam Teas said “We are working with a partner warehouse in US and by January, we will establish a larger partnership there to handle distribution and logistics. The firm currently has one warehouse in Delhi and 3 sourcing centres in Nilgiris, Assam and Darjeeling which are used seasonally”.

Currently, Vahdam Teas has 1, 50,000 customers across 83 countries, clocking a run rate of 15,000-20,000 orders per month.

The company procures tea directly from over 150-200 plantations across Darjeeling, Assam, Kangra Valley, Nilgiris and Nepal, within 24-72 hours of production and delivers it to international markets within 3-12 days. With an average gross margin of over 50%.

Vahdam Teas sells loose leaf teas with over 70 in-house signature blends that form about 80% of the sales. The firm is looking to introduce newer products in flavoured teas and wellness teas category while penetrating deeper into the US market.

Homegrown tea cafe chain Chaayos is looking to scale up its presence in Mumbai and Delhi, and plans to open about 20-30 outlets in the next few months.

Raghav Verma, Co-founder, Chaayos, said, "We are looking at expanding in and around our current hubs Delhi and Mumbai. We are looking to open about 20-30 outlets in the next few months."

Chaayos currently runs 31 outlets across Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.

"We can open another 15-20 outlets in Mumbai itself going forward, as it is under-penetrated. We are looking to open outlets in Pune, Gujarat, Goa, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and highways around NCR this year," he added.

The Tiger Global-backed company is also betting big on the deliveries business, Verma said.

"Our deliveries business is growing rapidly at almost 20 per cent month on month," he said.

"We were earlier investing in third-party deliveries, but now we do it on our own.

"We were not able to deliver the customer experience we expected through third-party deliveries, so we decided to do it ourselves," he said.

Darjeeling Tea, high quality Indian tea who has charmed the global tea lovers with its rich aroma and taste, fails to find its place in ecommerce business. As per the traders, the depleting prices of some of the varieties to almost a quarter indicate that ecommerce business has not yielded any profit for this Indian beverage.

The experts of the Darjeeling tea business are not moved by the recent switch to the online business from the traditional physical auction system. Many of them feel that this move has not triggered any positives for the business and had taken the trade further into the swamp.

Electronic bidding for Darjeeling tea was started in June this year, eight years after the government moved sale of all other teas online. Now, almost half of India's tea output of more than 1,200 million kg is sold this way.

This inclusion didn’t go as per the government’s plan and it belied expectations of bidding wars and higher prices for Darjeeling tea. Sharing their agony, one of the traders briefed to a renowned media house that the electronic bidding system, prices of the broken and fannings varieties, which together make up half of the Darjeeling tea output, have fallen 15-25 per cent from the previous year when the 'outcry auction' system was in place.

When the pan India e-auction was launched in June by the Tea Board for all types of teas, people thought that it will be good for the producers as it will encourage bidding wars and drive up prices. But in the case of Darjeeling tea such a thing did not happen as it is a very unique kind of tea and there is hardly any competition for it in the market, informed SS Bagaria, Chairman, Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA).

Taj Mahal made its Twitter debut on Independence Day, when Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) tea brand by the same name made its tea restaurant debut by quietly opening Taj Mahal Tea House in Bandra.

The 3,500 square feet outlet serves over 40 types of tea along with food specially designed by French chef Gregory Bazire to complement the teas in exquisite crockery.

"We have developed the market for tea in the country and we should also be the pioneers for bringing out the experience and romance of tea," said Geetu Verma, HUL's executive director for foods and refreshments.

The producer of Brooke Bond and Lipton tea also plans to use consumer insights from the restaurant to develop new products or blends for its premium tea brand Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal Tea House serves tea blend with spices and natural ingredients such as Kashmiri Saffron tea, Royal Jaipuri tea, Malabari tea and Parsi Mint tea. It has an all-day tea-pairing menu that includes Parsi Brun Maska with homemade jam, Arabic falafel chaat and muffins and biscuits baked in-house besides a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu.

This is its first venture into tea restaurant business, for Unilever, although two years ago it bought an Australian tea chain T2, which is a store-only format.

HUL is the market leader in India's Rs 10,000-crore tea market. HUL does not operate in the mass end of the segment and is betting on premiumisation.

"Our strate- gy on tea is all about upgrading consumers and at the top end it's about discovery of new formats and new ways to experience the product," said Verma.

Nevertheless, HUL wants Taj Mahal Tea House to be seen more as a destination for all tea lovers. It hopes that walk-ins at the restaurant translate into higher sales for its 49-year-old premium tea brand outside the lounge.

HUL has always tried to create finest imagery around the Taj Mahal brand by getting classical music maestros such as Ustad Zakir Hussain, Niladri Kumar and Rahul Sharma, to promote the brand. Taj Mahal Tea House continues this tradition.

Teabox, a premium tea brand which sells online, has picked up around Rs 50 crore in a new round of financing led by Singapore-based RB Investments. The Siliguri-based company has also raised venture debt from DBS Bank as part of the funding. Teabox will expand its back-end infrastructure including cold chain processing centres along with amping up its marketing and distribution with the new funds.

Founder & CEO Kausshal Dugarr said “company will explore an offline strategy for the brand in India by opening concept stores like the one it launched in Bengaluru along with increasing presence in high-end supermarkets such as Foodhall and Godrej’s Nature’s Basket. Dugarr, however, said he does not plan to open up tea parlours on the lines of Chai Point and Chaayos.”

The US, Russia and the UK are Teabox’s top three markets, with India coming in fourth but growing at 300% annually. Founded in 2012, Teabox sources tea leaves from Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiris, and Nepal.

Harshavardhan Bothra from RB Investments said, “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 will enable to redefine the category. RB Investments specialises in seed and growth-stage rounds and has made India investments in start-ups like Swiggy, FabHotels and Faaso’s, among others”.

The company has in all raised $13 million in capital. Teabox qualifies itself as a vertically integrated premium tea brand. With its sourcing centres located at the tea-growing regions, Teabox procures its teas directly from growers and ships across 112 countries globally.