Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters, based in Delhi, has raised INR 17 Cr ($2.28 Mn) in a Pre-series B bridge round led by Anicut Angel Fund (the equity arm of Anicut Capital), with participation from other new and existing investors.
The funds will be used by the startup to launch new products, carry out farm-level interventions to improve quality, expand internationally, and for marketing purposes.
Blue Tokai, founded in 2012 by Matt Chitharanjan, Namrata Asthana, and Shivam Shahi, sources single-estate Arabica coffee beans from premium Indian coffee estates, roasts them on demand, and sells them to leading cafes, restaurants, and hotels across the country.
The company began selling its coffee online and through B2B partnerships before expanding into cafes in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.
“We’ve been omnichannel since the very early stages of our business. Cafes were an important part of that mission, but like many brands, Covid-19 completely upended the economics of that business. We were fortunate to have a strong D2C presence already, and by refocusing our efforts on our online sales channels, we’ve been able to grow our revenue nearly 50% more than our pre-covid peak,” said Chitharanjan.
According to Mordor Intelligence, India's coffee market is currently worth $1.46 billion and is expected to grow to $2.03 billion by 2025.
Nestlé, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Coffee, and other traditional players dominate the Indian coffee market.
However, according to an Inc42 report, Blue Tokai, SLAY Coffee, Rage, and Sleepy Owl dominate India's online coffee market, which is expected to reach $203 billion by 2025.
To stay ahead, the company is developing ready-to-brew and ready-to-drink products so that people can more easily experience the variety of flavours that specialty coffee has to offer.
Furthermore, the company is working on several projects to help more small-scale growers improve their quality and, as a result, reap the premium that specialty coffee commands.
We are consistently researching, testing and implementing best practices throughout our business to raise the bar. Cupping hundreds of green bean samples every harvest before making our final selections is standard procedure at Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters. Holding advanced sensory trainings for junior roasters, and experimenting with processing at the farm level are just some of the ways that our highly skilled team is constantly evolving,” a company statement said.
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