{"id":3442,"date":"2024-09-02T06:11:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T06:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/founderlabs.in\/?p=3442"},"modified":"2024-09-02T06:52:33","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T06:52:33","slug":"blue-tokai-raises-35-million-from-verlinvest-at-180-million-valuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/?p=3442","title":{"rendered":"Blue Tokai raises $35 million from Verlinvest at $180 million valuation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Blue Tokai, a specialty coffee and bakery brand, has raised $35 million in a fresh round led by Belgium\u2019s Verlinvest, a family-backed investment firm and will utilize fund to expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Existing investors Anicut Capital and A91 Partners also participated in the round which now values the startup at around Rs 1,500 crore (about $180 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company&#8217;s valuation was up from around Rs 700 crore at the beginning of 2023.Now the startup will use the fresh funds to deepen its presence in existing metro markets and expand into new Tier I &amp; II cities in India over the next 3 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is second investment the company has made in under 2 years as investors. In January 2023, the company\u00a0raised $30million in a round that was funded by A91 partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blue Tokai was founded in 2013 by Chitharanjan, Namrata Asthana and Shivam Shahi, and the company has doubled its store count in the last year to 130 outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"910\" height=\"447\" data-id=\"3444\" src=\"https:\/\/founderlabs.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/blue-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/blue-1.jpg 910w, https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/blue-1-300x147.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/blue-1-768x377.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/blue-1-150x74.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/blue-1-696x342.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 910px) 100vw, 910px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Together, we are committed to elevating Blue Tokai to new heights, creating India\u2019s leading coffee chain and delighting consumers with unparalleled quality and service,&#8221; said Arjun Anand, Managing Director &amp; Head of Asia, Verlinvest.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>\u201cWe will utilise these funds to accelerate our expansion across all channels \u2013 from our own cafes to B2B and B2C platforms.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>By introducing innovative coffee product offerings through new producers, we will enable ourselves to reach new consumers with varied offerings and continue delivering consistent coffee experiences,\u201d Matt Chitharanjan, Co-founder and CEO, Blue Tokai, said.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blue Tokai raises $35 million<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[643,645,293],"tags":[1408,1410,1411,128,1117,1409],"class_list":{"0":"post-3442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-start-up-news","8":"category-funding","9":"category-top-news","10":"tag-blue-tokai-a91","11":"tag-coffee","12":"tag-coffee-chain","13":"tag-funding","14":"tag-venture-funding","15":"tag-verlinvest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.3 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Blue Tokai raises $35 million from Verlinvest at $180 million valuation - Founderlabs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blue Tokai raises $35 million from Verlinvest at $180 million valuation and will use fund to accelerate expansion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/?p=3442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Tokai raises $35 million from Verlinvest at $180 million valuation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Blue Tokai raises $35 million from Verlinvest at $180 million valuation and will use fund to accelerate expansion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/?p=3442\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Founderlabs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/founderlabsindia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-02T06:11:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-02T06:52:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.founderlabs.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/bb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"519\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gargi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@founderlabs_ind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@founderlabs_ind\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gargi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.founderlabs.in\\\/?p=3442#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.founderlabs.in\\\/?p=3442\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gargi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.founderlabs.in\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/afab350a7a241df759bfd7f712a8039d\"},\"headline\":\"Blue Tokai raises $35 million from Verlinvest at $180 million valuation\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-02T06:11:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-02T06:52:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.founderlabs.in\\\/?p=3442\"},\"wordCount\":253,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.founderlabs.in\\\/?p=3442#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.founderlabs.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/bb.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Blue Tokai. 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