[Funding alert] Global tea brand Vahdam Teas raises Rs 75 Cr in Series C led by Sixth Sense Ventures
In a statement, the company said the funds from this round will be used for expanding the company’s presence in the USA, Europe, launch new products and enter new markets like South Asia, India and UAE.
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Global tea brand Vahdam Teas on Thursday announced that it has raised Rs 75 crore in its Series C round of funding led by consumer fund Sixth Sense Ventures.
A cluster of reputed family offices and HNIs including Mankind Group Family office, Infosys Founder Kris Gopalkrishnan, SAR Group Family office, Zomato Co-founder Pankaj Chaddah, Urmin Group Family office, etc., also invested in the company.
The brand’s early backer, Fireside Ventures also participated in the current round, marking its third investment in the company. It previously invested in Vahdam’s Series A and B rounds in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
With this, the total funding raised by the company is over Rs 110 crore.
Bala Sarda, Founder and CEO, Vahdam Teas
In a statement, the company said the funds from this round will be used for expanding the company’s presence in the USA, Europe, launch new products and enter new markets like South Asia, India and UAE.
The company is based in Delhi and New York, and has 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 the demand for next 3-5 years.
Bala Sarda, Founder and CEO, Vahdam Teas, said,
“We are delighted to have Sixth Sense Ventures back our vision and join us in the journey creating a proud home-grown brand for the world. With the current fundraising, we aim to further penetrate key markets, invest heavily in R&D, launch innovative products, enter new markets globally and further strengthen our management team. Excited to take the brand to the next level of growth with this round.”
Founded in 2015 by Bala Sarda (28), a fourth-generation tea entrepreneur, Vahdam Teas' mission is to build a global tea and superfoods brand. With direct sourcing from estates across India and local distribution in key markets like the USA, Vahdam claims to be world’s first truly vertically integrated tea brand.
Nikhil Vora, Founder and CEO of Sixth Sense Ventures, who have also invested in brands like Bira and Veeba 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. Despite India controlling almost 25 percent of tea production, there is almost a negligible presence of a premia India brand on the world map."
"Our belief is that Vahdam could potentially fill that void, as new-age consumers spend on luxury experiences, superior quality and a demand for new and innovative tea flavours in markets such as the USA, Europe and India,” he added.
The round also saw participation from HNI clients of Avendus Wealth Management Pvt. Ltd, the wealth management arm of financial services firm Avendus Capital.
Kanwaljit Singh, Founder and Managing Partner at Fireside Ventures said,
“We have seen Bala’s journey for the past three years, and admire his vision to build India’s first global brand of tea and superfoods. Vahdam has successfully established itself as a digitally native brand in the US and European market, and is well on its way to becoming a mainstream brand across geographies and channels.”
(Edited by Suman Singh)
