Teabox brews $6M to grow its tea delivery service globally

Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, after water, which may go some way towards explaining the success of Teabox, a company that’s just secured $6 million in fresh funding.

The startup has been serving the world’s tea-loving public with a direct-to-door delivery service, with all leaves garnered directly from the famous tea estates of India, including Darjeeling and Assam. One of the core raisons d’être behind Teabox is cutting out the middlemen — these include tea giants such as Tetley and Tata.

Founded in 2012 by former KPMG financial analyst Kaushal Dugar, Teabox already raised a $1 million seed round last March and a $7 million series A in November, so today’s news takes its total funding to date to the $14 million mark. The round is being led by JAFCO Asia, with participation from Accel Partners, which actually provided the initial seed funding last year; Keystone Group LP; and Dragoneer Investment Group.

How it works

Teabox lets tea-lovers mix and match their leaves at a very granular level, with users able to select by plantation (e.g., Darjeeling), flush (e.g., autumn), or speciality (e.g., exotic or classic). This level of granularity applies across the board, covering black, green, chai, and oolong.

While users are able to buy a set amount in single transactions, e.g. 10g or 100kg, there is also a subscription element to the service that guarantees a set amount of different hand-picked teas each month.

Above: Teabox

The subscription facet is particularly notable and follows a trend we’ve seen across a number of industries — Birchbox offers curated beauty in a box, Bluum brings goodies for mums, and Craft Coffee does exactly what its name suggests. It’s all about making consumers’ choices easier by, well, deciding for you.

Teabox says the fresh cash influx will be used to “support Teabox’s growth in key markets,” with the company seeing particular interest in countries such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Russia. The company says it has shipped 20 million cups’ worth of tea to 75 countries so far, with orders growing ten times in the past twelve months.