Ratan Tata, the former chief of the Tata Group who is currently chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, the Group's holding company, has invested an undisclosed sum in a speciality tea start-up, Teabox. This is Tata's fifth investment in a start-up this year.
The announcement was made by Teabox in a media statement released on Wednesday.
"His (Ratan Tata's) direct guidance and experience in the tea industry will surely help us grow Teabox to be the first global premium tea brand from India," said Kaushal Dugar, founder and CEO, Teabox.
Teabox said that it procures premium tea directly from plantations in Darjeeling, Assam, Nilgiri and Nepal with the help of its warehouses in these places and sells them to customers worldwide.
The four-year-old start-up raised $6 million in Series A funding in March 2015, taking the total fund raised to $7 million till date. Teabox was founded in 2012 by Kaushal Dugar and is backed by JAFCO Asia, Accel Partners, Keystone Group LP and Dragoneer Investment Group.
Ratan Tata's earlier investments in the current year are in technology and data provider Tracxn Technologies, pet dog care portal DogSpot, founded by Rana Atheya, cashback and coupon portal CashKaro, co-founded by Swati Bhargava and Rohan Bhargava, and baby care products retailer FirstCry.
India is home to about 4,200 start-ups, according to software industry body, Nasscom. Recently, the government launched "Start-up India", an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to encourage Indian start-ups.
