Food Startup TeaMonk Raises Rs 6.5 Crore From Inflection Point Ventures And Others

• TeaMonk is India’s first tea venture offering natural specialty teas sourced from the finest tea plantations in Darjeeling, Nilgiris, and Assam.
• TeaMonk raises Rs 6.5 crore in its pre-Series A funding round.
• With this deal, TeaMonk has raised Rs 23.5 crore in a total of 5 funding rounds.

Bangalore-based food & beverage startup TeaMonk raises Rs 6.5 crore in its pre-Series A funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures, Sarcha Ventures, U.S-based HNIs Dr. Madhu K Mohan, Anil Menon (Senior Advisor to Chairman, World Economic Forum), Jai Gupta (Entrepreneur), and lead angels network also participated in the round.

According to the press release, The HNIs have participated in their personal capacity (undisclosed amount).

The startup will use this fresh capital for product innovation, expanding in domestic and global international food markets. The startup also planned to launch its subscription-based platform for the home market.

With this deal, The startup has raised Rs 23.5 crore ($3.2 million) in a total of 5 funding rounds.

In August 2017, The startup first raised Rs 4.95 crore ($760K) in its Seed Round led by New Delhi-based venture capital firm Hunch Ventures.

Following, In April 2018, The startup raised Rs 3 crore ($445K) led by its existing investor Hunch Ventures.

In April 2019, The startup raised Rs 6.94 crore ($1 million) led by Roots Ventures and Raja Gupta (Co-founder & Chairman, New Silk Route)

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"Tea is a socially connecting beverage. India is one of the largest consumers and exporters of tea in the World. TeaMonk presents us with a large market opportunity in premium green tea where few players are growing fast," said Vinay Bansal, Founder & CEO, Inflection Point Ventures.

"We see premium green tea market exploding in the next 3 years as more people choose high immunity tea, that tastes great, for maintaining their overall health. The large market opportunity internationally and relevance of tea in Indian narrative has prompted us to lead the round in TeaMonk,” he added.

“We are delighted to partner with IPV towards our vision of building a “sourced in India" international specialty tea brand. During the pandemic, we have seen a marked increase in consumer preferences towards healthier beverages like green tea," said, Ashok Mittal, Managing Director, TeaMonk.

We have seized this opportunity to launch a range of green tea variants focused on immunity and wellness. This includes Kadha green tea, Spice green tea, and Ashwagandha green tea. There has been terrific consumer response to these introductions,” he added.

TeaMonk has established itself as a trustworthy and reliable brand for its customers in India and other countries. The startup has built its business around fresh teas that are sourced from the top tea gardens in the country and have built a strong supply chain to ensure the shortest go-to-market time to preserve the freshness of the tea leaves.

The tea market is estimated at $5.8 billion globally. In India, the market size is approximately $450 million growing at 30% CAGR (compound annual growth rate).

According to the Allied Market Research report, The global tea market is expected to reach $68,950 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6.6%.

About TeaMonk - TeaMonk is a Bangalore-based food & beverage startup founded in 2016 by a group of industry professionals Ashok Mittal (Managing Director), Amit Dutta (Executive Director), and Nalin Sood (CEO). TeaMonk is India's first tea venturing startup offering quality pure and naturally sourced tea from the finest and top tea gardens in the country.

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