Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Uptea: Hello! We're Max and Ingo – the founders of Uptea. We've developed a process to transform flavorful teas into real pick-me-ups.
Max doesn't originally come from the food industry, but has a background in medical informatics and several years of professional experience as a project manager at a Munich university hospital and an international software company. He completed his part-time MBA at Munich Business School, which is where the idea for Uptea was born. With this idea, he then participated in the LMU EC Accelerator, where one of the foundations for Uptea was laid. Max is the Managing Director of Uptea GmbH.
While searching for a partner for product development, Max met Ingo by chance, who was immediately enthusiastic about the idea. Ingo is a trained chemical engineer and has more than 20 years of experience as a galenist and developer. In his own laboratory, he has developed various processes and recipes for the food industry. At Uptea, he is responsible for process and product development, as well as for the production of our teas.
“At Uptea we combine the benefits of both drinks”
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Uptea: Many of us are probably familiar with the problem of not being able to get going in the morning, falling into a slump after lunch, or feeling tired very early in the evening. To counteract this, we reach for coffee or energy drinks. But both beverages have their pitfalls. With Uptea, we offer a healthy and sustainable alternative that simply wakes you up better.
Coffee contains a lot of caffeine and wakes you up quickly, but only for a very short time. For many people, the rapid absorption of caffeine also leads to unpleasant side effects such as rapid heartbeat or malaise. The effect also wears off very abruptly, the so-called 'coffee crash'. Coffee contains a lot of acid, which can cause stomach problems. Bad breath and yellow teeth are other unpleasant side effects of coffee consumption. For anyone who cares about their health, energy drinks are simply out of the question due to the many artificial ingredients and huge amounts of sugar. Unfortunately, conventional teas contain very little caffeine, but its effects last significantly longer. Furthermore, tea is generally very healthy and well-tolerated. With Uptea, we combine the benefits of both beverages. In the tea leaf, caffeine is bound to the rare amino acid L-theanine. This bond ensures easy absorption and a long-lasting caffeine effect. Furthermore, you don't feel jittery and excitable, but rather very focused and concentrated – simply more awake.
“Our process can be applied to almost any tea blend”
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Uptea: That's what we thought too when we came up with the idea for Uptea, but ultimately we couldn't find a beverage that truly compares to ours. Of course, there are a few tea manufacturers that offer a "wake-up drink." However, these are usually just teas with a slightly higher natural caffeine content or blends with added guarana, mate, matcha, kola nut, or other caffeinated plants. Many of these blends still have a relatively low caffeine content or a very bitter taste. Guayusa is also often sold as a natural wake-up drink, but its flavor is very limited and can't compare to the variety of flavors available in the tea world.
We enhance our teas with natural caffeine. Each tea bag contains approximately 150mg of caffeine. This is comparable to a cup of strong black coffee, but, as described, has a much more pleasant, long-lasting effect, and no unpleasant side effects. Furthermore, our process can be applied to almost any tea blend, allowing for an incredible variety of flavors. Despite the addition of natural caffeine, our teas also have no bitter taste. With Uptea, you'll simply be more awake.
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Uptea: Challenges arise almost daily. I'll name three examples that were very time-consuming and required a lot of effort.
For one thing, product development was highly complex. I spent a long time working with various partners on the tea refining process. Even well-known companies ultimately failed to achieve satisfactory results: Either the effect wasn't as desired, the appearance and structure of the tea leaves themselves didn't meet our expectations, or the tea tasted simply too bitter. Fortunately, Ingo came up with a brilliant idea to solve these problems, which is why he became an integral part of Uptea.
Another issue is the required minimum order quantity in the tea business. Many wholesalers are geared towards selling their teas by the ton, which far exceeds the financial resources of a startup. Manufacturing and printing boxes also only makes economic sense at a certain scale. Finding a supplier that also StartupOffering customer-friendly quantities and conditions wasn't easy at first. However, we're happy to have gained a strong partner who recognized the potential of the idea and wants to grow with us.
A third issue that permeates all aspects of starting a business is time. Every founder will certainly be familiar with this problem: especially at the beginning and in a small team, you're responsible for everything and are challenged everywhere. It's an advantage that we already have different areas of expertise and complement each other very well, but sooner or later, we'll obviously also urgently need support for topics in which neither of us is a proven expert. With one or two additional people on board, we could move forward much faster and more efficiently, and we could pursue several topics simultaneously and lead them to success.
Crowdfunding campaign runs until the end of January
Munich Startup: How are things going?
Uptea: We haven't yet begun sales in the traditional sense, but we are currently running our crowdfunding campaign, with which we have already achieved significant success. www.startnext.com/uptea Interested parties have the opportunity to secure an early shipment of our healthy pick-me-up and support Uptea from the very beginning. There are also a lot of cool goodies as a thank you, and every supporter has the opportunity to vote for the next flavor we should add to our portfolio. We have already reached our first funding goal one week before the end of the campaign. 162 people are enthusiastic about the idea and have enabled us to produce the first two varieties with their 8,500 euros of support. The campaign runs until the end of the month, and we are of course happy about any further support, which will be used to have the sustainability of our product officially certified. From the cultivation of the tea and its processing in Germany to packaging and logistics, this topic is extremely important to us. We are still just under 4,000 euros short of reaching our second funding goal, but I am confident that with the support of the community we will achieve this too.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Uptea: Munich is a great location for startups. There are a number of really good accelerator programs here, and from my own experience, I would recommend LMU EC I can only warmly recommend it. Additionally, there are some top universities here and many young people who are well-educated and highly motivated. The already successful Munich startups show what can be achieved here. We certainly want to benefit from this in the future and continue to grow our team. In addition to the accelerator programs, there is also a lot of funding and support in Munich. For example, the City of Munich financially supports the creative work for our crowdfunding campaign – Thank you again at this point! Even in times of Corona, there are many events for founders and startups in Munich that are now being held digitally. Networking is of course more fun face-to-face, but under the current circumstances, this is already the better option. Not relevant for us at the moment, but certainly interesting in the future, is the large number of business angels and investors here in Munich. If startups ever need capital to continue growing, there are plenty of hot addresses here. Even though I have never lived in Berlin myself or founded a startup there, I don't think Munich has to hide behind Berlin.
Munich Startup: Green or black tea?
Uptea: That's a really good question, and one I can't quite answer for myself. Personally, I tend to drink black tea in the morning and green tea in the afternoon. These are probably the most well-known types of tea, although the world of tea naturally offers a much greater variety of flavors. We start our production with precisely these two, although there are countless types and variations. Our 'fresh green' is a fruity Sencha, refined with lemon and ginger, and our 'gentle earl' is an Earl Grey (black tea with bergamot), refined with a delicate hint of vanilla. In the future, however, we would like to expand our portfolio to include many other varieties. Anyone who would like to help create their own tea can do so via our Startnext campaign. We are excited to see where this journey is going and thank you very much for the interview.
