Why we supported CuppaTrade

CuppaTrade is India’s first B2B vertical e-marketplace focused on Tea and Coffee. It aims to make the global tea and coffee trade accessible and sustainable through digital interventions, scalable processes and strategic partnerships.

Genesis of CuppaTrade

In India, the variety of tea that we produce does not get adequately exposed in the market.? Sellers, especially proprietary and small tea producers do not have the means, information or time to either explore or expand newer markets, domestic or international.

There are currently 2.4 lakh small tea growers (STGs) in India, producing over 691 million kgs of tea (52 percent of India's tea production). Most often these STGs are located in remote areas and are dependent on agents to sell their produce. Certain socio-economic factors make the dependence on these agents more pronounced, hence devoiding the STG from fair prices.?

In the end, the growers receive a disproportionately lower share of the consumers wallet, which makes it imperative to move up the value chain and get direct market access to have a better price realization.

Additionally, traceability is a huge issue in international markets, where mostly blended tea is sold, whereas the buyers have limited or no knowledge of whether teas are ethically sourced following correct Geographical Indication (GI) norms.

At present, there isn't a specialized digital B2B platform connecting tea producers directly with end buyers. The existing trade methods typically involve either the time-consuming auction system or labor-intensive private sales, which cater to a limited group of buyers.

With CuppaTrade’s eMarketplace, buyers will be able to operate from anywhere in the World and get access to a large variety of tea. CuppaTrade has also introduced a Quality Card to improve and standardize the sampling process, eventually improving the sales cycle time.

Founders

CuppaTrade is led by industry veterans Sandip Thapa and Mihir Gandhi.?

In his earlier avatar, Sandip had spearheaded an exhaustive initiative under the Tea Board of India which provided valuable insights on the current challenges of the Industry and opportunities thereof. His work included setting up a unique digital platform, based on auction and e-marketplace models.?

Mihir and Sandip were also part of a Tata group company,? handling B2B online transactions. Mihir, as a founding team member there, had managed and led several product specific e-platforms over the years, including Agribusiness. Before CuppaTrade, Mihir had worked at a leading Agritech startup, learning valuable nuanced insights on Agri e-trade platforms.

Why we supported CuppaTrade

At IIMA-CIIE, we look for a solid founder-market fit at the early stages, which CuppaTrade currently has in place. Both the founders bring a good understanding of Tea and other Agri commodities trading businesses, having complementary skill sets required for execution. Also being well connected in the ecosystem, they share a good rapport with stakeholders.?

As per FAO, Tea is the world’s most consumed drink, after water. Annual consumption is expected to increase to 7.4 billion kg in 2025 from 6.3 billion kg in 2020. Given the limitations of regional auction centers and no current restriction from the government for the export/ import of tea or other agri products through online marketplaces - it is a potent white-space in the B2B cross-border marketplace.