Ratan Tata Funds Teabox
Kaushal Dugar, Ratan Tata, and Rohan Jahagirdar
INDIA
Teabox, established in Siliguri, Assam in 2012, has secured the financial backing from industrialist and investor Ratan Tata. The sum was not disclosed.
Teabox was founded by Kaushal Dugar to sell premium specialty teas from Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri, and Nepal to tea lovers in 93 countries. Major markets for Teabox are the US, the EU, and the Middle East, and 95% of its revenue comes from outside India. The company has developed a very efficient supply chain model that allows the delivery of tea very quickly to its foreign customers.
In one year, the company has grown by two and half times and now plans to use the Tata funds to expand into new markets and grow its presence in existing markets. Ratan Tata was chairman of the Tata Group in 2000 when it acquired U.K.’s Tetley Tea and, says Dugar, “We have grown up admiring and respecting his vision and business acumen on scaling the Tata Group to a global level.
His guidance and tremendous experience in the tea industry will surely help us grow Teabox to be the global premium tea brand from India.”