Ayesha Takia Turns Investor For The Good Life Company, Bets $1 Mn

Online luxury tea brand The Good Life Company has secured $1 Mn in Seed funding from husband-wife duo Ayesha Takia Azmi and Abu Farhan Azmi.

The startup plans to use the raised funds to strengthen its operations in Mumbai and to expand services in Tier I cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. It further plans to foray into international markets as well, including the US, UK, Singapore, and the Middle East.

Bhuman Dani, co-founder of The Good Life Company said, “On studying the premium tea market in India, we realised that finding specialty teas with natural and exotic ingredients from around the world was such an impasse that tea lovers ended up relying on their travel plans to keep stock. This prompted us to conduct extensive R&D that resulted in world-class blends with the finest tea leaves and alluring ingredient profiles from around the world.”

Launched in October 2016 by former employees of the Boston Consulting Group, Bhuman Dani and Shariq Ashraf, the startup claims to offer over 300 varieties of in-house tea blends. The company experiments with teas and offers new flavours from botanicals across countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, Sri Lanka and others.

As per an official statement, it is currently available in over 70 hotels, restaurants and cafes – including Taj Lands End, Cafe Basilico, Yauatcha, Hakkasan, Café Zoe, Fatty Bao, AKA, Shizusan, and Smoke House Deli among others.

Commenting on the investment, Abu Farhan Azmi said, “The F&B industry is evolving rapidly and the three guiding forces behind this transformation have been quality, consistency and innovation. We believe that The Good Life Company has positioned itself extremely well in this emerging category owing to its innovative sourcing and blending capabilities.”

In January 2016, Ratan Tata invested an undisclosed amount of funding in Teabox, an online startup that sells premium teas. In June 2016, it raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Cameron Jones, a Singapore-­based angel investor. In February, Delhi-based Indulge Beverages, maker of premium tea and coffee capsules under brand Bonhomia, Bonhomia raised $1 Mn in angel funding from HNIs led by Alok Rawat, President of FG Wilson. In January this year, online tea brand Vahdam Teas secured $650K from angel investors Mumbai Angels Network, Fireside Ventures, and Singapore Angel Network.