Tea cafe chain Chaayos raises $21.5 million funding
Chaayos, a technology-led cafe chain which sells a variety of tea and snacks, has raised $21.5 million in a mix of equity and debt funding round led by Think Investment. Out of the total amount, $18.5 million was infused by existing investors like Tiger Global, SAIF Partners, and Integrated Capital. Besides that, $3 million was raised as a venture debt investment from Innoven Capital.
Chaayos: A start-up reinventing tea culture in India
Started by Nitin Saluja and Raghav Verma in 2012, Chaayos is a tea cafe chain which offers India's favorite beverage, chai, in over 80,000 customizations. The company offers its services via 80 cafes across eight Indian cities and has 1.7 million registered guests. Apart from that, the start-up has also partnered with food delivery giants to serve tea online.
Chaayos is a technology-led cafe chain network
Interestingly, Chaayos has an automated process of tea-making. The start-up uses Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled tea vending bots, Chai Monks, that prepare a cup of tea personalized to the user's preference. Apart from that, the start-up also uses a face-recognition system for reducing the log-in time of users, thereby offering a hassle-free yet secure solution for payments.
Chaayos will deploy the fresh funds for expansion
Speaking about the fund-raise, Nitin Saluja, the co-founder and CEO of Chaayos said, "We shall endeavour to get to 300 cafes over the course of the next three to four years." He further added, "Alongside growing our cafe network, we will continue to invest heavily into technology and augment team across all levels."
Meanwhile, here's a look at the previous investments in Chaayos
Prior to this investment, Chaayos had received around $20 million from giants such as Tiger Global, SAIF Partners, Integrated Capital, and Singapore-based Pactolus. The company has raised around $42 million in funding since its inception.
