Teabox

Teabox

Type	Private
Industry	Internet
Founded	2012
Founders	Kaushal Dugar
Services	E-commerce (Online shopping)
Website	teabox.com

Teabox is an Indian tea brand that sells tea and tea-based products sourced from Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiris, and Nepal. Founded in 2012, Teabox has its offices in Siliguri, West Bengal, and Bangalore. In 2015, the company set up the country’s first cold-storage facility for tea in Siliguri.^[1]

Early history

Teabox is an Indian tea brand founded in 2012 with offices in Siliguri and Bangalore. Its products feature teas sourced from Darjeeling, Assam, Kangra, the Nilgiris, and Nepal. The company sells its products in 95 countries.^[2]

Funding

Teabox was founded by Siliguri-resident Kaushal Dugar. First started as Darjeeling TeaXpress in 2012, in 2013, the company raised USD 1 million in seed fund from Accel Partners. In 2015, the company raised USD 6 million in an investment round led by JAFCO Asia along with Dragoneer Investment Group, Keystone Group LP and Accel Partners. Teabox also has two customer-turned-investors, American Robert Bass who participated in the Series A funding and Singapore-based angel investor, Cameron Jones who invested in Teabox in 2016.^[3][4] Early 2016 also saw Ratan Tata become an investor in Teabox.^[5]

Product

Teabox’s sources and selects tea from gardens across India and Nepal. The tea is vacuum-packed and stored in a temperature- and humidity-controlled facility, from where it is shipped to customers. Tea, stored this way, can be shipped to customers within 48 hours of production, cutting short the traditional cycle of 3–6 months.^[6]

Awards and honours

India Emerging Top Twenty Company by the Mayor of London (2016) ^[7]

Internet Retailer of the Year - Food & Drink (2015) ^[8]

Red Herring “Top 100 companies in the Asia-Pacific region” (2014) ^[9]

Business Today “India's Top 16 Coolest Startups (2014) ^[10]

References