HOW I GOT ACCEL PARTNERS TO INVEST IN MY STARTUP – THE TEABOX STORY
The previous day they were declared as the winners of eSparks 2013 – India’s largest e-commerce showcase platform. During our conversation, Kaushal shared how difficult it was to do business from north-east India (Teabox is...
He flew to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad where he setup meeting with some angel investors and VC funds to showcase Teabox. This time, a few angels and VCs showed interest and gave him an opportunity to pitch Teabox – but not many were convinced yet. Accel Partners had shown keen interest, but nothing was finalized. This is when eSparks 2013 happened. Kaushal says, “Being the winner of eSparks 2013 really put me in the spotlight, it helped me reinforce my ideas, and gave me access to folks/investors I may not have had a chance to meet given the fact that we were based completely out of the ecosystem -- in North Bengal.” Soon after winning eSparks -- the conversation with Accel Partners accelerated and the deal was closed in the later part of 2013 with Accel leading and Horizen Ventures (Singapore-based early stage fund) participating in this investment round of $1million into Teabox. Prashant Prakash from Accel joined their board as advisor. The future plan Now with all the process and system in place and money in the bank, Kaushal shares they are looking to grow their customer and revenue by 3-5x in the next 12 months and they believe the key to achieving this growth will be through strategic talent hiring with strong marketing, procurement and operational experience. At present, Teabox is a 21-member team (nine in Bangalore + 12 in Siliguri/Darjeeling) and will soon be expanding in Guwahati, Kochi/Nilgiris -- building backward linkages and creating their own infrastructure in these tea growing regions. On the customer-facing front, they want to soon setup their own presence in Russia, the US, Japan, China, Germany, France and Western Europe. When quizzed on the long-term vision for Teabox, Kaushal says, “Tea is just the beginning, we want to build a plug-n-play model -- commodity supply chain business for spices, cereals and more leveraging technology. It’s a long way to go!” This gives us insights into Accel’s interest and investment in Teabox which is in sync with their current e-commerce portfolio and how they can help and scale Teabox globally from their experience and expertise in this space and the learning from their other portfolio companies. Kaushal shares the main challenge they are currently facing is to convince their employees that they are building a truly global business from their own small city, Siliguri, with customer experience as their number one priority. Kaushal and team are also working on creating a positive impact for the local community by partnering with few plantation owners to help the workers’ community through scholarships for their children so they can get access to better educational opportunities. Peer advice To end the conversation, Kaushal says, “One thing I would like to highlight to all startup founders is that many do get intimidated by the mumbo jumbo during the fund raising experience, especially if you are not from one of the major metros or startup hubs, or if you are not from one of the elite IITs/IIMs. But don’t get intimidated. Believe in your idea, your team, systems and processes you have built and the potential market. Once you are confident and convinced, it will be easier to convince others, be it business partners or investors. Believe in yourself, first!” Check out some fresh and exotic teas from India at - https://www.teabox.com/.