Oct 2, 2018   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Vahdam Teas, The Fastest Growing Premium Tea Brand, Raises US$2.5 Million in Series B Funding

Vahdam Teas, purveyors of the most garden fresh tea on the market, has successfully raised US$2.5 million in its Series B round of funding for its direct-to-consumer business. India’s leading consumer investment fund Fireside Ventures, is taking the lead role for this round taking the total funding raised by the brand to US$5 million in the last two years. This round will be used for further developing the US market by investing in customer acquisition and brand building, along with uncovering new territories.

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Its 27-year-old Founder and fourth generation tea entrepreneur, Bala Sarda, incepted the company in 2015. Sarda saw an opportunity with his native India, being the second largest producer of tea in the world, to take back its ownership of its teas, empower Indian farmers and provide the most premium and freshest teas on the US market.

Unlike other brands, Vahdam Teas disrupts the supply chain of tea – by making premium garden fresh tea available to consumers across the world in the shortest periods of time by leveraging technology, cutting out all unnecessary middlemen and launching innovative packaging formats. All of the teas are procured directly from plantations and tea growers, which it gives back to, within days of production, packaged garden fresh and shipped directly from its Indian-based source – making Vahdam the world's first truly vertically integrated tea brand.

The brand generates all of its sales online and has now shipped over 100 million cups of premium teas to consumers in over 85 countries. The brand has grown by 1,000% in the last two years. With its recent opening of its first US warehouse in Indiana and an office in New York, 70% of its revenue comes from the US market.

Set to launch in mid-October, the company will unveil its first collection of Single Serve Pyramid Tea Bags that will add to its exclusive offering of over 75 tea blends in loose leaf teas. Its Turmeric Spice Herbal Tea, part of its new tea bag offering, was recently awarded the prestigious SOFI 2018 for the “Best New Product” in the Hot Beverages Category by the Specialty Food Association, selected from over 2,600 products.

Sarda says, “We are excited to take the next steps in the growth journey at Vahdam Teas. Fireside Ventures has been one our earliest supporters and we are glad to have them back with us in this round as well. We have seen tremendous customer appreciation for our teas and plan to keep building the momentum. With stronger investment in the brand and our infrastructure, we plan to keep building to achieve our vision of making the freshest teas to consumers worldwide, under a home-grown brand, which is socially conscious.”

On the investment Kanwaljit Singh, Managing Partner, Fireside Ventures said, “Vahdam Teas is an innovative brand that brings the best of Indian teas to mainstream global consumers. Fireside invested in the business in the previous round of investment as well and seeing the strong performance of the business, we are delighted to reinvest in the company. We will continue to back Bala’s leadership and passion to build a world class global Indian brand.”

About Vahdam Teas
Vahdam Teas is disrupting the supply chain of tea, by making garden fresh teas to consumers across the world available in the shortest periods of time, by leveraging technology and cutting out all unnecessary middlemen. Vahdam’s teas do not travel in containers for months before being packaged and sold. All the teas are procured directly from plantations and tea growers within days of production, packaged garden fresh and shipped directly from its Indian-based source. The brand was founded by the 27-year-old Bala Sarda (Forbes 30 under 30 2018) with a vision to build a global premium tea brand from India.

About Fireside Ventures
Launched in 2017, Fireside Ventures is a focused early-stage investment platform for consumer brands. Anchored by a slew of marquee investors, including Unilever Ventures, Premji Invest, Westbridge Capital, Mariwala Family Office, Emami Ltd., RP-Sanjiv Goenka Family Office, Sunil Munjal’s Hero Enterprise Investment Office and ITC Ltd., Fireside manages a corpus of Rs 3.4 Billion to be invested in exciting consumer brand startups in multiple rounds, from Seed to Series A funding.