Teabox sources tea directly from plantations in India and Nepal, vacuum-packing leaves hours after picking and using a patent-pending nitrogen-flush technique to protect freshness. The company sells via Teabox.com, marketplaces like Amazon, and select offline outlets, and offers subscriptions and an in-person experience store. Teabox has shipped over 40 million cups of tea to more than 100,000 customers across 110+ countries. It is not yet profitable as a whole, but several channels — including Teabox.com — are described as "very profitable," with margins of up to 70 percent. Head offices are in India and Singapore, and management says it has built core infrastructure to scale rapidly. Planned growth includes expanding on- and offline channels in India, remaining predominantly digital outside India, increasing marketing, and pursuing partnerships such as Lazada and DBS. Teabox provides an online platform that ships fresh Indian speciality tea globally, operated by Bangalore- and Singapore-based AsianTeaxpress Pte Ltd. It works with about 200 plantations in Darjeeling, Assam and Nepal and says it has delivered over 35 million cups' worth of tea to customers in 94 countries. The company vacuum-packs tea within 24–48 hours of production and ships within the following 24 hours so buyers typically receive packs in three to five business days. Teabox raised an undisclosed fresh funding round from Singapore-based angel Cameron Jones and secured venture debt from DBS Bank, and said it will use the proceeds for global expansion. The business previously raised $6 million in a Series A led by JAFCO Asia with participation from Accel Partners, Keystone Group LP and Dragoneer Investment Group, and received an undisclosed investment from Ratan Tata in January. Teabox has hired Amit Sharma as chief technology officer and Nicole Naumoff as senior vice president of marketing to help scale products and build the brand, including a focus on North America. Teabox operates a direct-to-consumer tea delivery service that sources leaves directly from Indian tea estates and cuts out middlemen such as major tea brands. Users can mix and match teas by plantation, flush, or specialty and buy single amounts or subscribe for curated monthly shipments. The product lineup covers black, green, chai, and oolong teas with granular options (e.g., 10g to 100kg). The company highlights a subscription element as a core part of its offering to simplify customer choices. Teabox says it has shipped the equivalent of 20 million cups of tea to 75 countries and that orders grew tenfold in the past twelve months. The company intends to use new capital to support growth in key markets including the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Russia. TeaBox operates an e-commerce platform that lets consumers browse, select and order freshly procured teas that are packed in 100 g vacuum boxes and shipped directly via carriers like FedEx and BlueDart. The company sources tea within hours of production to reduce delivery time from months to under a week. It markets packages across multiple countries and is positioning itself as an “online teahouse” to recreate a Starbucks-like experience for tea drinkers. TeaBox has shipped around 10,000 kg (about 5 million cups) across 65 countries since launch, and expects shipments could treble to ~30,000 kg (up to 14 million cups) this year. In its top four markets (Russia, US, Canada, Australia) average order value is roughly $110 per package, and some Russian customers order $600–$1,000 monthly. The company runs as a technology-led business aiming to remove traditional distribution layers and replicate the model in additional markets.

Total raised

$14M

Funding rounds

6

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Dec 2017