StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch alumnus, Wesley Lin, founder of NAICHA, a healthier version of boba tea (also known as bubble tea), qualified as a semi-finalist in the California Real Milk Accelerator. He will be competing in the finals this Thursday, November 7, and could win $250K! I recently interviewed Wesley about NAICHA and this incredible opportunity.
Me: You’re the founder of NAICHA — what is your product? When did you launch? Do you have sales?
Wesley: What NAICHA is doing is creating a healthier ready to drink boba milk tea alternative. We incorporate probiotics and high vitamins to aid in digestion and promote a healthy lifestyle as well as develop a shelf-stable tapioca boba pearl. Our drinks are extremely low in calories and in sugar compared to current boba products that contain over 100g of sugar in a 16-ounce drink. I started NAICHA in 2015 by delivering to people’s locations as well as selling at farmer markets, where we officially launched in 2018. We are a young company but have done a couple thousand in sales and focus on expanding to be in convenience stores, specialty grocery stores, and e-commerce.
Me: How did you find out about the California Real Milk Accelerator?
Wesley: You introduced me to this California Real Milk Accelerator in an email. You and Jeff Bennet have also helped me polish my pitch deck and pitching skills to be ready for investment opportunities through the StartupSac Warm-Up Pitch.
Me: How will the accelerator help you? What progress are you hoping to achieve through the help of the accelerator?
Wesley: Through the California Real Milk Accelerator, I hope to commercially formulize my product to be ready to be sold through my e-commerce store, naichatea.com, as well as be in retail. This accelerator will provide the supply chain knowledge from farm to market by including visits to farms and processing facilities. Not only that, with the elite mentorship provided, I will gain insight into the beverage market and how to be successful in providing an easily accessible healthy bottled boba milk tea to both the young and old.
Me: What’s Next in the accelerator?
Wesley: As a semi-finalist, I will be engaging in elite mentorship from renowned industry professionals as well as touring dairy facilities and processing plants. I will have the opportunity to compete in the finals in San Francisco on November 7th where NAICHA will have a chance to win $250,000 to further develop our technology and manufacturing.
Me: So how can the Sacramento Startup Community help you?
Wesley: If you would like to follow NAICHA’s journey to creating a healthier ready to drink boba milk tea, you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @drinknaicha. If you are interested in helping NAICHA grow in any way feel free to email me at wesleylin@naichatea.com.
Me: We will be cheering you on in the competition! Best of luck!
The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) is putting on one of the biggest dairy competitions of all-time, The Real California Milk Accelerator, powered by VentureFuel, with over $450,000 worth of prizing to be awarded to innovative fluid milk startups.
