Dorje Teas ‘Leaves’ A Mark On The Sharks!

Dorje means thunder and ling means land, and there are 87 tea gardens with the title Darjeeling tea gardens. Darjeeling Tea is known across the world as the ‘Champagne of Teas’. The tea market is estimated at Rs. 1.2L crores and Darjeeling tea amount to 1%. Darjeeling houses high-quality tea gardens which produce organic and authentic teas. Usually, this tea is an exported product, but due to the lockdown, the gardens have suffered massively. To bring this high-quality product to the Indian market at an affordable price, Dorje Teas was born. To protect and improve the decaying Darjeeling Tea industry, Ishaan and Sparsh started Dorje Teas to preserve it. Dorje aims to eliminate the tea gardens’ dependency on multinationals, exporters, or retailers. Dorje is associated with the Selim hill tea estate, where they grow and nurture the tea sold.

Darjeeling chai pe mile?

Ishaan Kanoria and Sparsh Agarwal explain in their pitch that every season in Darjeeling brings a new flavor, color, and aroma to the tea. Currently, Dorjee tea runs on a subscription model primarily and is available to purchase on Amazon. The subscription model costs Rs. 2100/per year. Their range includes First Flush (Spring harvest), Second Flush (Summer harvest), Third Flush (Monsoon harvest), and Final Flush (Autumn harvest), among others.

Inviting the sharks to join them for a cup of tea with Anupam trying out the tea in an authentic manner. Expressing their 5-year vision, Dorje intends to turnover 100 crores. Currently, the sales run rate is 11 Lakhs per month with a margin of 75%. However, they are currently running in loss with a burn of 2L. Previously, they have raised 8.5 Crores; 6.5 cr out of brand capital, and 2cr from angel investors and HNI at a valuation up to 32cr convertible note.

While the sharks relish their cup of Darjeeling tea, Dorjee seeks an investment of 30 Lakhs for a 5% equity stake. Expressing certain concerns about the restrictiveness of the tea and the subscription model, Namita & Aman dropped out. Dorje received an offer from Vineeta, Peyush, and Anupam. They offered to join in as equity and strategic investors at 30 Lakhs for 15% equity @ 2 cr valuation.

Recode Studios

To solve the problem of expensive makeup and accessibility in the market, Dheeraj Bansal & Rahul Sachdeva came up with Recode Studios. They produce premium and high-quality makeup products at an economical and affordable price. With over 250 shops, a website, and an app, Recode made 21 crores in FY21-22. In FY22-23, they already have 11.5 crores in sales and are projecting to make 30 crores. On this, they have made a profit of 70 Lakhs. Moreover, they have 3 franchisees in Faridabad, Delhi & Raipur. In 2021, they started a marketplace with over 60 brands.

With an ask of 1 crore for a 1% equity stake in the company, Recode couldn’t bag a deal from the sharks. However, Peyush was astounded by their customer acquisition model where they hold offline tutorial classes in 5-star hotels with food for all the participants and claimed that he will adopt it.

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