Tea cafe chain Chaayos raises $12 M from SAIF Partners, others

The startup will use the fund raised for its expansion by introducing more cafes in the existing cities.

Tea café chain Chaayos raised $12 million (about Rs 81 crore) in its Series B round of funding from SAIF Partners, Integrated Capital and Pacatolus. The fund raised will be used by the parent firm, Sunshine Teahouse Private Ltd, for expanding the chain of tea cafes in existing cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Chandigarh, which it runs under the Chaayos brand.

Last year, Chaayos had raised $7 million from Tiger Global and the startup is the only non-tech investment of Tiger Global.

Chaayos was founded in November 2012 by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Mumbai alumnus Nitin Saluja along with IIT-Delhi graduate Raghav Verma.

Over the last five years, Chaayos has established itself as a fast-casual dining chain and currently has over 52 cafes across seven cities. The company also witnessed a healthy contribution from its deliveries (20 percent) and food business (45 percent), to the overall company revenues, said the company in a statement.

Nitin Saluja, Founder and CEO, Chaayos said, “Chaayos was started with a vision to serve a customised cup of tea to every chai-lover, backed by great food, and delivering a seamless customer experience. We welcome our new investors and are excited to partner with them to further propel the chai café revolution in India. Within a short span of its launch, the brand has grown exponentially with 42 percent month-over-month customer repeat business. As we embark on our next phase of growth, we aim to further consolidate our presence in existing markets with new outlets across cities.”

Jeff Yam, principal investor, Integrated Capital said, “Integrated Capital is excited to partner with Chaayos to build a leading Indian consumer brand in one of the most compelling categories in the country. We have been actively tracking the Indian consumer landscape and Chaayos is well aligned with our thesis. We are impressed by the founders’ approach to building a business centered around creating exceptional customer experiences, whilst scaling healthily and profitably.”

In a recent conversation with YS, Jeff had said, “I feel there are still enough good opportunities to go around in India, the competition is healthy, not like the US and China, where it is much harder for an investor to get into good businesses at reasonable valuations.”