VAHDAM India and Goodricke Group Limited, part of the Camellia PLC – who own and manage tea estates like Castleton, Margaret’s Hope, Badamtam, Barnesbeg and Thurbo in Darjeeling, as well as top estates in Assam like Amgoorie, Dejoo, Harmutty, Nonaipara and Borpatra, amongst others – have announced a strategic procurement partnership to make available their teas via VAHDAM’s global distribution network.
VAHDAM India, a six-year old startup founded by Bala Sada in 2015, said it’s disrupting the traditional supply chain of tea by eliminating middlemen and leveraging technology and e-commerce to make available the finest garden-fresh Indian teas to consumers globally.
At the heart of the partnership is VAHDAM India’s Direct Sourcing that procures directly from producers and ensures that farmers get optimum realization. The company said this creates a significant positive macro-impact in the form of improved amenities and better living conditions for the workers. The direct model also insulates producers from the volatility of auctions as VADHAM assures them of round-the-year offtakes. For consumers, it means top-quality teas sourced directly from the tea-estates within days of harvest.
VAHDAM India noted that it pre-booked the DJ3 invoice of Castleton, Margaret's Hope and Badamtam first flush harvest, which was launched around the end of March.
“We are glad to formalize our partnership with Goodricke Group, which owns some iconic tea estates in Darjeeling and Assam,” said Bala Sarda, founder and CEO of VAHDAM India. “Our partnership goes beyond procurement of teas: VAHDAM is also actively working in Goodricke in many tea estates to provide digital learning programs to the children as a part of our TEAch Me social initiative.”
Atul Asthana, CEO and managing director of Goodricke Group, said that he was delighted to partner with a new-age startup that has successfully created an Indian home-grown brand in international markets like the USA, Europe and the UK. “We are glad to partner with a fast-growing and dynamic company like VAHDAM India, whose global ecosystem of consumers in over 130 countries can open so many new opportunities and avenues in the years to come,” said Asthana. “Of course, our single-estate teas are promoted by VAHDAM in over 100 countries.”
With a net revenue run rate of 200 crores, VAHDAM India said it is now India’s largest home-grown teas and superfoods brand. The company also raised more than US$17 million in venture funding from some of India’s top investors.
Recently, VAHDAM partnered with BYJU’S, World’s most highly valued ed-tech and digital learning company, to make available access to high quality education to children in the Indian tea industry. Together, they have committed full academic program access to over 50,000 children by 2023.
VAHDAM is the reverse anagram of the founder’s father’s first name, Madhav.
To learn more, visit VahdamTeas.in.