A D2C tea brand from Assam, Esah Tea, has successfully amassed 3 crores ($400 thousand) in its Pre-Series A Funding round which was led by NEDFI Venture Capital Ltd. The success found in this funding round indicates towards the need in the market for traditional artisanal teas and authentic handcrafted tea products. Esah is the first tea brand of its kind which was started in Assam. Earlier angel investors of Esah tea include SRD Group and Grant from Assam Startup and NEAT-E-HUB.
Founded by a 26-year-old entrepreneur from Mangaldoi, Esah Tea is the world’s largest tea-growing region. It offers a range of organic blends that are single-origin and carefully selected to rejuvenate and revive the mind, body, and soul with the natural healing qualities that tea leaves offer. The tea leaves are sourced from 150 plus local gardens and marginal tea growers. In addition to this, Esah brand also has an eco-friendly approach, thus, preventing the use of plastic tea bags and any other harmful substance in their production process. In order to promote this eco-friendly approach, Esah Tea has developed the world’s first plastic-free organic cotton tea bag which is hand-made out of pure cotton cellulose base.
On the fundraise Bijit Sarma, the Founder & CEO of Esah Tea said “The tea from India has always seen a lot of importance in the domestic and international market. However, over the years, over-commercialization has thwarted the originality of the product. Esah aims at bringing back the same by empowering local small tea gardeners and delivering single-origin, Artisanal fresh teas. We are elated, that our esteemed array of investors infused their trust into our business model.”
Esah Tea is currently offering a wide array of organic tea options like whole leaf black tea, green tea, oolong tea, white tea. Along with this other interesting options in flavour tea such as organic Assam masala Chai, rose black tea, lychee black tea, and other blends like English Breakfast Tea, Chamomile, and Moringa Tea. Esah Tea products are also available on its e-commerce website Esahtea.com, or on famous e-commerce platforms Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal. Other platforms where Esah tea can be found are offline stores Repose Bakers Special. Currently, Esah Tea products are available in more than 25+ countries through its own D2C online store.
“Esah is producing some world-renowned tea products. It is maintaining the organic quality which attracts a wider market and loyal customer base. The brand has been performing impressively and appears promising in the longer run. The aim is to collaborate towards promoting holistic growth of the brand and revival of the industry at large,” said PVSLN Murty. He is the Chairman, NEDFi Ventures.
The company intends to utilise the funds in expanding the marketing and operations team. It will also utilise a part of the raised investment in inventing new products, and establishing brand stores in new geographies. The brand is aspiring to convert 20000+ acres of land to organic tea cultivation areas. They are expected to have onboard 1000+ Local Small tea growers by 2023.
