Chaayos raises $53 million in Series C led by Alpha Wave Ventures, others

Chai cafe chain Chaayos has raised $53 million in Series C funding.

This round is led by Alpha Wave Ventures with participation from all existing investors Elevation Capital, Tiger Global and Think Investments.

The funds raised will be used for tech-enhancement, hiring and store expansion.

“Very early on in our journey, we took a 50-year view on the chai market and decided to take a technology first approach to build a chai brand. The latest capital raise will help us deepen our technology investments to further enhance our guest experience and build a ubiquitous brand that is an integral part of Indian society over decades to come,” shared Nitin Saluja, Founder & CEO, Chaayos.

Chaayos was founded in 2012 by Nitin Saluja and Raghav Verma with the mission to serve the world its 2 cups of daily chai and snacks.

Chaayos is one of the most hi-tech food & beverage companies globally, enabling a world-class customer experience and fast scale up. At Chaayos, guests can personalize their fresh cup of chai in 80,000 combinations and Chaayos IoT-enabled tea bots called Chai Monks, make this possible. Chai monks are patented bots that brew a cup of chai in 2 mins and avoid the need for training. Thus enabling fast scale up.

“We are privileged to partner with Nitin and Raghav on their journey of building a ubiquitous and much loved destination for Chai and snacks. A unique combination of innovations in food and drinks offerings, strong leverage of technology solutions and obsession over customer satisfaction has positioned Chaayos as a clear leader in their space,” added Deepak Gaur, Partner, Elevation Capital.

Chaayos’ AI platform enables a seamless guest experience. For instance, Chaayos facial recognition software enables faster checkouts and payments. The product recommendation algorithm guides guests through a journey of product trials carefully curated for them. The platform also powers Chaayos loyalty program which rewards guests upon their repeat visits with real time offers. Chaayos two-click ordering mobile application is the preferred mode of ordering for 52% of Chaayos regular guests. The resultant customer love that Chaayos generates is evident through a world-class NPS score of 78.

Chaayos online Chai deliveries now account for 45% of revenues.

“We are excited to partner with Chaayos - India’s most beloved chai destination. Chaayos team has been able to deliver personalized tea consistently well at scale through proprietary systems and technology. We are impressed by the team’s customer obsession, which is visible in its best in class unit economics and customer NPS,” pointed Navroz Udwadia, Co-founder, Alpha Wave Global.

Chaayos runs 190 stores across 6 cities and plans to add 100 more by the end of 2022.