Vahdam Teas, an online tea brand, has bagged INR 75 crore as part of its series C funding round from Sixth Sense Ventures, HNIs, and a clutch of investors, reported Inc42.
With this round of funding, the total funding raised by Vahdam Teas to date is over INR 110 crore. While, Vahdam Teas said that it will use the funds to expand the company’s presence in the USA and Europe.
The company Vahdam Teas also said it will also launch new products and enter new markets like South Asia, India and UAE.
Bala Sarda, founder and CEO, Vahdam Teas said, “With the current fundraising, we aim to further penetrate key markets, invest heavily in research and development, launch innovative products, enter new markets globally and further strengthen our management team.”
Founded in 2015 by Bala Sarda, Vahdam Teas is a vertically-integrated, online-first tea brand. All Vahdam teas are procured directly from 150-200 plantations and tea growers in India and Nepal within 24-48 hours of production.
After thorough processing, cleaning and packaging, the teas are shipped to international markets within three to two days.
Nikhil Vora, founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures, said, “Vahdam is an interesting example of how a traditional business like tea can get disrupted. Impressed with the way Bala has sought to target the global markets first, create a brand salience and market innovative ethnic Indian tea flavours.”
The company Vahdam Teas also plans to open a UK office early next year. It will further invest in a state-of-the-art packaging facility to expand manufacturing and cater to demand for the next three to five years.
Furthermore, India is the seventh-largest coffee and the second largest tea producer in the world. Interestingly, 83% of Indians prefer tea to coffee.
Some of the similar platforms, operating under the same objective include Udyan, TeaBox, Kettlery, and Infinitea among others.