Chai Point Announces Its Foray into Instant Chai

• Launches a premium instant chai range available in a variety of flavours
• Instant chai to be available on Chai Point D2C platform, its stores and top e-commerce portals including Amazon, Big Basket, Supr Daily, Swiggy Instamart.
• Chai Point targeting a revenue of more than Rs 10 crore in the next 12 months from this category
• Launched in 4 different flavours, Classic, Masala, Ginger & Cardamom
• Also available in sugarless flavours Masala & Cardamom

 

Mumbai, 19th February, 2021: Chai Point, India's largest omnichannel beverage brand has announced its foray into the instant chai category. The Company has launched Instant Chai in three flavours -- Masala, Ginger & Cardamom. The instant chai will be available in convenient 'sachet' easy to carry formats priced at Rs 180 for a pack of 10.

The Instant Chai range is now available on Chai Point's recently launched D2C platform Shop.Chaipoint.com in addition to biggest e-commerce sites including Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Big Basket, SuprDaily. The range would also be available across 170 store of Chai Point.

Amuleek Singh Bijral, Co-founder CEO, Chai Point says, "The Pandemic has brought about many fundamental shifts in our F&B consumption pattern. As white collar professionals with millennial mindset continue to WFH, their consumption of Chai is at an all time high and our customers want the same taste of Chai as they get in our stores albeit be ready in a matter of seconds. Launch of instant chai is another way to stay in tandem with the needs of our customers for who Chai is a fuel which keeps them going even when working remotely."

Chai Point range of Instant Teas is a specially crafted beverage designed for those hectic work from home meetings, late workdays, travel & holidays without compromising on the authentic taste of homemade chai.

This is a 100% natural zero preservative product, where actual tea and spice extracts are mixed with the highest quality dehydrated milk in the state of the art German machines to give a truly authentic chai experience. Chai Point is known not only for ensuring balanced levels of sugar in the beverages but also for making available 100% natural alternatives like jaggery and honey. Likewise, for this product, the Company has put in a finely measured quantity of sugar and side by side also made available the sugarless options for the customers.

 

Chai Point Instant Chai with No added Sugar is an aromatic delight for those seeking to boost their senses, minus the sugar. To relish this perfect instant chai, just add hot water to the premix and reconnect with what truly matters in life.

The Company aims to grow the Instant Chai category into Rs 10 crore business in the next 12 months.

Now carry your cup of Authentic Instant chai wherever you go..

About Chai Point

Chai Point is an omni channel brand started in 2010 by Amuleek Singh Bijral and Prof Tarun Khanna from Harvard. The Company which reaches millions of customers everyday through multiple channels like boxC, stores, delivery, is backed by marquee investors like Paragon Partners, DSG, Eight Roads Ventures, Saama Capital. Chai Point runs over 175 stores in 8 cities selling 3,00,000 cups every day. The Company has raised $34 million in funds till date. The last round in which Chai Point raised $20 million in Series C was led by Paragon Partners.

Here're Top 10 Innovative Indian Companies by Fast Company

Last week, Fast Company, a monthly American business magazine published its list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019. JioSaavn along with other Indian companies such as Dream 11, Chai Point, Ola have made it to the list.

The list honours the businesses making the most profound impact on both industry and culture, showcasing a variety of ways to thrive in today’s volatile world. Half of the companies on this year’s MIC 50 list are appearing for the first time.

#1 Jio Saavn

Jio Saavn is a music streaming app formed post merger of Jio Music and Saavn and offers more than 40 million tracks in 15 regional languages for 38 million monthly active users, has been ranked 1st in the list of top 10 Indian firms in Most Innovative Company on a country basis.

#2 OYO

Gurgaon-headquartered budget accommodation firm OYO, which recently got a Unicorn stats, has got the 2nd position in the list. Fast Company chose OYO for its coveted place for expanding its hotel options to appeal to business travellers. Oyo, which resembles US-based Airbnb, is a network of properties that include free Wi-Fi, free breakfast, white linens, and other hotel features for a fraction of the cost of a normal hotel.

#3 Saathi

Amedabad-based Saathi Eco Innovations  [Feature Story] makes biodegradable sanitary napkins for rural women in India and has coveted the 3rd position for the most innovative companies from India.

Last year, in Cleantech Open Global Forum held in Los Angeles Saathi was announced winner for developing a technology to make fully biodegradable and compostable sanitary pads made from waste banana tree fibre.

#4 RupeeCoin

Hyderabad-based RupeeCoin, the first entry in the list has secured the 4th position. It is a blockchain solution startup which allows people without a bank account or a credit card to engage in the digital economy.

#5 OLA

Bangalore-based cab-hailing firm Ola, which recently got massive $900 million investment from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, grabbed the 5th rank. It has expanded to a network of more than 1 million vehicles--cabs and autorickshaws--across 169 cities.

#6 Chakr Innovation

Delhi-based Chakr Innovation has secured the 6th position. The innovative startup has developed the world’s first retro-fit emission control device for diesel generators. It uses technology to reduce emissions from diesel generators and bring down air pollution levels.

#7 ShareChat

Bangalore-based ShareChat is a social networking and regional content platform for the fast growing Internet users in India. With ShareChat one can share videos, jokes, GIFs, audio songs and funny images from India in Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, and Malayalam.

#8 Swiggy

The food delivery company that recently raised $1 billion infunding has got 8th position for excellent food delivery service.

#9 Chai Point

A Harvard alumnus founded company, ChaiPoint made the entry for the first time and received the 9th position. It is India’s largest organized Chai retailer and caters to corporations with a cloud-based beverage service called BoxC, an IoT-enabled automatic tea dispenser.

#10 Dream11

Mumbai-based Dream11 made its entry for the first time and got the 10th rank. It offers Indian sports fans a platform to showcase their sports knowledge. Fans can create their own team of real-life players from upcoming matches, score points based on their on-field performance and compete with other fans.

Recently, International Council of Cricket (ICC) has signed a deal with Dream11, India's biggest sports gaming platform, to make it its "Official Fantasy Game Partner" till 2023.

Top Featured Image by Vivek Doshi on Unsplash.com

Chai Point Launches Payment Integrated IoT-Enabled Dispenser Range for Chai and Coffee

Office goers can now sip on their favourite Chai Point Chai as many times in just 3 easy steps, Choose, Scan & Sip. Chaipoint, an Indian Chai retail chain, has introduced India's first authentic chai and filter coffee dispensing machine with an integrated payment solution in collaboration with Paytm and the service will soon be extended to Chai Point wallet and other major third-party payment solutions.

It was in July last year, when Chai Point had launched 'boxC', its cloud based beverage services platform which includes fully automatic and IOT enabled dispensers. The company now has a unique payment method as the office can define free number of beverages and post that consumers can pay, boxC is the only vending machine with such a solution.



Via its SHARK technology platform, Chai Point has launched the first integrated contractual and on-demand payment solution for beverage dispensers (boxC) in the country. This move will allow Chai Point to sell freshly brewed beverages from every office pantry while enabling a bigger market footprint for ChaiPoint’s boxC business.

It is an easy to use module and has a friendly interface with the display screen that gives eight beverage options along with image, beverage name and price. The screen will also depict if the decoction is fit for consumption or not, a bar indicating beverage quality going from good to bad will be displayed. Once the beverage is selected the consumer will be directed to the payments screen where they can pay by scanning Paytm QR code and the beverage will dispense automatically upon successful payment. Chai Point is continuously working on adding more user experience led capabilities to its boxC range of dispensers.

Amuleek Singh Bijral, Founder & CEO Chai Point says, "boxC is one of the fastest growing business channel for Chai Point. We have been receiving demands to install boxC from many small as well as Large businesses where their employees can, partially or fully, for a quality beverage to keep going at work. This is the first time that contractual and on-demand billing is integrated and is a testament to the strength of our SHARK platform. Bringing on board the largest payment solutions provider Paytm will ensure that each customer will be able to pay in a simple way and get access to healthy and quality beverages at work. We also plan to extend this kind of integration to other wallets."

Currently users have option to pay using Paytm, soon the payment options will be extended to other major third-party payment solutions. In case of failed payments the amount dedcuted from Paytm wallet will be reversed within 1-2 hours. Presently, Chai Point has over 2000 boxC installations across 8 cities and contributes to more than 38% of its overall revenue. The Company plans to expand its presence to 5 new cities before the end of fiscal through the boxC channel.

Tea Retailer Chai Point Launches 100th Store in Bangalore

After raising good amount of $20 million of capital in Series C funding round in April, India’s largest organized tea retail chain Chai Point today launched its 100th store in Indiranagar, Bangalore. Mr Priyank Kharge, Minister of Social Welfare Development, Karnataka Government inaugurated the Store.

This store is a turning point for the company, which has managed to create a unique brand of tea stores across India. Located on 12th Main alongside other high-end restaurants, the 100th store boasts of a new look with a large open seating area which is accentuated with greenery. With the new store launch, the company is also making an effort to elevate the customer experience through design, technology and made-for-chai foods.

Read our featured story on Chai Point here.

Talking about the new store concept, Amuleek Singh Bijral, Co-founder and CEO, Chai Point, says, “The 100th store is an exciting milestone for us. It marks the beginning of a new and enhanced customer experience that we have built by incorporating our learnings from the last 7 years. From the store design philosophy to the new made-for-chai menu to billing which uses face recognition technology - everything has been designed to create a rich store experience.”

[caption id="attachment_124848" align="aligncenter" width="995"] Priyank Kharge social welfare development minister govt of Karnataka[/caption]

The store follows the brand’s new design philosophy which is aimed at creating a warm, authentic and progressive space for young urban chai lovers to meet and socialize. While the contemporary indoor space feels cozy and relaxed, the outdoor open area is lush with greenery to highlight the company’s Clean Earth commitment.

The store’s new made-for-chai menu is an interesting mix of authentic and contemporary foods. While Rajdhani cutlets and Tutti Frutti Bun Maska are traditional favourites, those who want to experiment can try Nawabi Chicken Croissant or Mathri with three beans masala - an Indian take on Mexican Nachos.

Chai Point’s loyalty program Prioritea will also be seen getting more tech savvy. Customers can now opt for a face scan to make their billing experience quick and seamless and get higher rewards and benefits. Using technology led innovations, the company aims to increase its loyalty customer base to 3 million in the next one year.

Chai Point is India’s largest organised brand in the INR 1.5 Lakh crore Chai market targeting 1 billion Indians. The average per capita consumption of the beverage is increasing at a steady rate of 20-30%. With the launch of its 100th store, Chai Point has evolved into a formidable player in India’s food and beverage industry where it will be competing with several international cafe chains.

In August 2016, Chai Point also launched a, IoT-based Beverage services platform boxC, to provide 100% authentic Chai and filter coffee at office pantries. The cloud based platform distinguishes itself by ensuring much higher level of transparency in both beverage quality, billing basis and service levels.

India is one of the world's biggest tea consumer and Chai Point plans to double down on what is estimated to be a multi-million dollar market opportunity. Over the coming months, Chai Point will also face competition from the Tata Group, which has already launched its Tata Cha tea cafes and plans to aggressively ramp up.

In a competition to Chai Point, an another similar Tea-based startup -- Chai Break, which is based out of Kolkata, had received Rs 5 crore angel funding from Venture Catalysts of Mumbai to expand outlets of its chains, mostly in Tier II cities.

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Tea Retailer Chai Point Launches 100th Store in Bangalore

After raising good amount of $20 million of capital in Series C funding round in April, India’s largest organized tea retail chain Chai Point today launched its 100th store in Indiranagar, Bangalore. Mr Priyank Kharge, Minister of Social Welfare Development, Karnataka Government inaugurated the Store.

This store is a turning point for the company, which has managed to create a unique brand of tea stores across India. Located on 12th Main alongside other high-end restaurants, the 100th store boasts of a new look with a large open seating area which is accentuated with greenery. With the new store launch, the company is also making an effort to elevate the customer experience through design, technology and made-for-chai foods.

Read our featured story on Chai Point here.

Talking about the new store concept, Amuleek Singh Bijral, Co-founder and CEO, Chai Point, says, “The 100th store is an exciting milestone for us. It marks the beginning of a new and enhanced customer experience that we have built by incorporating our learnings from the last 7 years. From the store design philosophy to the new made-for-chai menu to billing which uses face recognition technology - everything has been designed to create a rich store experience.”

[caption id="attachment_124848" align="aligncenter" width="995"] Priyank Kharge social welfare development minister govt of Karnataka[/caption]

The store follows the brand’s new design philosophy which is aimed at creating a warm, authentic and progressive space for young urban chai lovers to meet and socialize. While the contemporary indoor space feels cozy and relaxed, the outdoor open area is lush with greenery to highlight the company’s Clean Earth commitment.

The store’s new made-for-chai menu is an interesting mix of authentic and contemporary foods. While Rajdhani cutlets and Tutti Frutti Bun Maska are traditional favourites, those who want to experiment can try Nawabi Chicken Croissant or Mathri with three beans masala - an Indian take on Mexican Nachos.

Chai Point’s loyalty program Prioritea will also be seen getting more tech savvy. Customers can now opt for a face scan to make their billing experience quick and seamless and get higher rewards and benefits. Using technology led innovations, the company aims to increase its loyalty customer base to 3 million in the next one year.

Chai Point is India’s largest organised brand in the INR 1.5 Lakh crore Chai market targeting 1 billion Indians. The average per capita consumption of the beverage is increasing at a steady rate of 20-30%. With the launch of its 100th store, Chai Point has evolved into a formidable player in India’s food and beverage industry where it will be competing with several international cafe chains.

In August 2016, Chai Point also launched a, IoT-based Beverage services platform boxC, to provide 100% authentic Chai and filter coffee at office pantries. The cloud based platform distinguishes itself by ensuring much higher level of transparency in both beverage quality, billing basis and service levels.

India is one of the world's biggest tea consumer and Chai Point plans to double down on what is estimated to be a multi-million dollar market opportunity. Over the coming months, Chai Point will also face competition from the Tata Group, which has already launched its Tata Cha tea cafes and plans to aggressively ramp up.

In a competition to Chai Point, an another similar Tea-based startup -- Chai Break, which is based out of Kolkata, had received Rs 5 crore angel funding from Venture Catalysts of Mumbai to expand outlets of its chains, mostly in Tier II cities.

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India’s 20 High-Growth Companies Including Startups Selected for Mayor of London’s IE20 Business Programme

Twenty of India’s fastest growing companies have been recognised by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, receiving a prestigious award to join the Mayor’s India Emerging 20 (IE20) business programme. The winners, including many tech startups, were selected from regions across India and represent some of country’s most innovative, high growth businesses specialising in technology, life sciences and business services.

The 20 winners were chosen from over 300 applications from some of India’s leading business hubs such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. The India Emerging 20 programme was launched by the Mayor of London’s official promotional agency, London & Partners, in collaboration with BDO and Lalit Hotels, with the aim to identify some of India’s most ambitious companies that are considering international expansion.

India Emerging Twenty (IE20) is an initiative created by London & Partners and launched by the Mayor of London with the mission to discover 20 of India’s most innovative and high-growth companies to help them grow to London. 2018 is the third year of the programme. The program supports innovative, high-growth Indian companies within the Tech, Media, Telecoms, Life Sciences, Financial and Business services sectors to grow their international business through London. It is a competition led by London & Partners in collaboration with a range of leading business advisers such as BDO and Lalit Hotels.

An initial 51 companies were shortlisted from over 300 applications. The shortlisted companies then pitched their business plans to a jury chaired by London & Partners and made up of senior venture capital investors, serial entrepreneurs, heads of leading in-market accelerator programmes and partner professional services firms for a chance to feature in the final 20.

Some of the Indian startups selected for this year’s programme include:

• Hug Innovations (Hyderabad) – Hug Innovations is a wearable tech company developing IoT platforms that allows users to complete tasks including controlling apps, electronics, VR headsets, toys and home automation using just hand gestures. The startup currently has is also working with a number of leading companies to develop IoT solutions in personal safety, automotive, health & fitness and gaming.


• Morph.Ai: Morph.ai is an end-to-end solution that aims to empower companies to make their services available over websites, apps and messengers by making use of natural language understanding and artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbots. The startup was part of Nasscom 10000 startups and YES Bank's first accelerator batch, Morph.ai helps businesses in making, deploying and training their own chatbots so as to better engage with their customers. In what could be considered as a big achievement, the startup is currently powering Manchester City chatbot.


• Furtados School of Music (Mumbai) -  FSM is a music education firm with a vision to provide accessible quality music education to all. The company works with schools and other institutions to provide training in musical instruments. The company, which first raised funds from angel investors in 2014, has grown more than 1,000% since then. FSM are currently testing a mobile application to bring together people interested in learning music and music teachers.


• Ittisa Digital Media services (Bengaluru) – Ittisa is an innovative marketing technology company offering analytics, digital marketing, branding and strategy services with a strong emphasis on the use of technology. The company is already working with a number of leading Indian and global brands including Flipkart, Airtel and Vijay Bank.


• Dineout (New Delhi) - Dineout is India’s premier table reservation platform, operating out of 8 cities, with a listing of over 25,000 restaurants and real-time reservation enabled at over 3,500 outlets across the country. Currently Dineout seats more than 500,000 diners per month across its partner restaurants.


• Chai Point (Bengaluru) – Chai Point, India's largest organized Chai retailer, brings a perfectly brewed cup of Chai made with fresh, natural ingredients to offices and working professionals around the country. Beginning with the first pilot store set up in Bangalore in April 2010, Chai Point has rapidly grown to become the go-to brand for a perfectly brewed cup of Chai with over 300,000 cups sold every day.

The companies selected to join this year’s programme will receive help in setting up or expanding their business in London. The winners will also have the opportunity to benefit from discounted rates on a London office and tailored expert advice on marketing, access to finance and local market analysis.

Last December, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan visited India on a trade mission to strengthen business links with London. During his visit he announced a number of Indian investment deals for London, including 400 new tech jobs for the capital. He also revealed plans to open a new Bengaluru office for his promotional agency, London & Partners, to provide further support for Indian businesses looking to expand in London.

Related Reading - 20 Indian Startups Selected For 2017 India Emerge 20

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “London has strong cultural and economic ties with India, and Indian businesses make an important contribution to our city. Following my visit to India last year, I see lots of opportunities to strengthen investment between London and Indian cities.

“London is a truly global business centre and presents lots of opportunities for Indian companies looking to expand their business overseas. I am delighted that my India Emerging 20 programme is helping some of India’s fastest growing companies with their international growth and London remains open to investment, talent and collaborations with India.”

Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor for Business, added: “London is the best city in the world in which to grow a business, so I am delighted that these exciting companies will now be able to explore opportunities to expand here in the capital.

“It is now 16 years since I moved from India to London. This great city welcomed me with open arms and thanks to its entrepreneurial spirit helped me to launch two successful businesses. It is great news that these 20 companies will now be able to experience the same welcoming business environment that I enjoyed.”

Further analysis of London & Partners investment data shows that 2017 was a record year for foreign direct investment from India into London1. Indian technology companies such as Wipro and Infosys have shown a strong appetite for London over the last ten years, accounting for over half of all businesses investing in the capital.

Entering its third year, the IE20 programme has helped a number of previous winner’s setup or expand in London. Indian medical technology company, RX Prism, opened a £2 million innovation hub in London, while Chennai-based analytics firm LatentView and Curadev Pharma have also expanded their operations in London since their involvement with the IE20 initiative.

Arjun Pratap, Founder & CEO EdGE Networks and 2017 IE20 winner said: “The India Emerging 20 programme has opened doors for our business and helped us with our international expansion plans. Through our involvement in the programme, we have gained valuable insight into the UK market and understood how best we can bring future focused talent solutions to build the workforces of tomorrow. London and Bengaluru share strengths in technology and innovation and London was the natural choice for us to grow our business in Europe.”

Arbinder Chatwal, Partner and Head of India Advisory Services team at BDO added: "London and India boast of a healthy trading relationship. London and other metro cities in India have thriving start – up ecosystems and it is important that Indian and UK businesses explore these opportunities across cities. London & Partners launched their proprietary property - India Emerging 20 with BDO as the nominating partner and has successfully completed 3 years of identifying high growth Indian companies, ready to scale into international markets."

"Companies in the Indian market have great business promise, innovativeness and immense potential to scale their businesses globally - this has been affirmed by the response of the 3 year’s applicants and winners. Mirroring the last two years, we look forward this year too for great business expansion stories, with IE20 as their springboard."

The finalists will be revealed at a ceremony in Bengaluru later this evening, attended by high profile business figures from the UK and India, where they will receive an award from Vani Kola, one of India’s leading business women and venture capitalists.

Vani Kola, Managing Director of Kalaari Capital said: “India is producing an increasing number of high growth, scalable companies. Cities such as Bengaluru and Mumbai have developed clusters of start-ups with a strong culture of creativity and innovation that is similar to that of London. The twenty winners part of this year’s IE20 programme demonstrate the strength of India’s entrepreneurial mindset and the growing strengths in areas such as technology and life sciences.”

British Deputy High Commissioner in Bengaluru, Dominic McAllister, added: “IE20 is an important element of the UK-India Technology-Partnership which was agreed by our two Prime ministers in April and formally launched in India last week by Digital and Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock. The UK and India are global leaders in technology and two of the world’s most innovative countries. The new UK-India Tech Partnership will be testimony to that. A pilot soon to be launched In Karnataka will focus on augmented and virtual reality, advanced materials and artificial intelligence - technologies which a number of our winners today are already deploying. The Partnership will seek to: develop a network of people and programmes to facilitate ideas; provide access routes for British and Indian entrepreneurs and SMEs to each other’s markets; and encourage broader innovation and productivity by helping businesses in the UK and India to develop closer relationships.

Full list of Indian companies selected as 2018 winners for IE20 programme:

• Appnomic Systems


• BiOZEEN


• BlackPepper Technologies


• Chai Point (Mountain Trail Foods)


• Happay


• Intello Labs


• Ittisa Digital Media Services


• Senseforth


• Chakr Innovation


• Dineout / inResto


• Fork Media


• Lucideus Tech


• Morph.ai


• Videonetics Technology


• Wigzo Technologies


• Hug Innovations


• FSM Education


• Gaia Smart Cities


• Iksula Services


• SaffronStays

Chai Point Raises $20 Mn in Series C Funding Led by Paragon Partners

Chai Point, the largest organized Chai Company in India, today announced a $20 million Series C funding round, led by Paragon Partners. All existing investors - Eight Roads (Fidelity’s India PE arm), Saama Capital and DSG – participated in this round, with some of them investing super pro rata.

Chai Point is India’s largest organised brand in the INR 1.5 Lakh crore Chai market targeting 1 billion Indians. With the average per capita consumption of the beverage increasing at a steady rate of 20-30%, the market is ever expanding. Chai Point has solidified its leadership position in the organized Chai segment and created a unique brand in a market which is now witnessing an aggressive formalization drive. The Company delights its customers with 0.3 million cups of Chai a day across all its channels – stores, delivery, and dispensers – and is poised to do 5X more in the next 3 years.

Commenting on the investment, Amuleek Singh Bijral, Co-founder and CEO, Chai Point said “This funding round is primarily aimed at further strengthening the brand’s multi-channel go-to-market. A substantial portion of our investment proceeds will go towards deepening our sales, marketing, and service operations for our automated hot beverage dispending business - boxC.in - which is the next growth driver for the business. High quality tea and coffee is fundamental to our growth and we are going to expand and refine our underlying sourcing program – “Garden to Glass”. Also, we look forward to delighting our customers with an especially enhanced food menu. “

Professor Tarun Khanna, Harvard Business School, Co-Founder Chai Point said, “Chai is integral to the rhythm of life in India. At Chai Point, we are using technology to enhance the customer experience, and are recommitting to strengthen our efforts towards environmental sustainability.

Siddharth Parekh, Co-Founder and Senior Partner, Paragon Partners, said “Amuleek and his team have built a strong brand with Chai Point, which has a great potential to be among the top home-grown brands in the country. We look forward to working with the Chai Point team and helping them scale up their operations.” “We are bullish on the consumption story in India and are excited to partner with the Company. This investment is in line with our overarching investment theme of partnering high-calibre entrepreneurs with compelling business models.”

Mr Parekh will also be joining the Board of the Company. DCS Advisory India (earlier Signal Hill Capital) was the exclusive advisor to the company for this fund raise.

Chai Point was founded in 2010 by Amuleek Singh Bijral and Professor Tarun Khanna of Harvard Business School and has now grown to become the largest organized Chai Company in India. Chai Point is an omnichannel Company with stores, delivery and fresh-milk based dispenser platform called boxC.in as its operating channels. Chai Point is set to launch its 100th store in May 2018 and has deployed close to 2,000 fresh-milk based dispensers. Chai Point is also the country’s largest hot beverage delivery brand and recently delivered its 11th Lakh flask. Key to Chai Point’s multi-channel capability is its proprietary cloud based platform called SHARK.

Read our featured story on Chai Point here.

Established in 2015, Paragon Partners is a private equity firm focusing on the lower mid-market segment in India. Investing out of its maiden fund Paragon Partners Growth Fund-I, the firm focuses on making investments in five key sectors comprising consumer discretionary, financial services, infrastructure services (asset light), industrials and healthcare services. The fund has a corpus of $120 million and invests $10 to $20 million in companies where it can play an active role in value creation.

In a competition to Chai Point, an another similar Tea-based startup -- Chai Break, which is based out of Kolkata, had received Rs 5 crore angel funding from Venture Catalysts of Mumbai to expand outlets of its chains, mostly in Tier II cities.

India is one of the world’s biggest tea consumer and Chai Point plans to double down on what is estimated to be a multi-million dollar market opportunity. Over the coming months, Chai Point will also face competition from the Tata Group, which has already launched its Tata Cha tea cafes and plans to aggressively ramp up.

Speaking about beverage startups, KIVA, a Gurugram based startup in the modern ayurvedic health juice space, has recently raised an undisclosed amount of funding from several marquee investors, including entrepreneurs in India and Silicon Valley.

Chai Point Raises $20 Mn in Series C Funding Led by Paragon Partners

Chai Point, the largest organized Chai Company in India, today announced a $20 million Series C funding round, led by Paragon Partners. All existing investors - Eight Roads (Fidelity’s India PE arm), Saama Capital and DSG – participated in this round, with some of them investing super pro rata.

Chai Point is India’s largest organised brand in the INR 1.5 Lakh crore Chai market targeting 1 billion Indians. With the average per capita consumption of the beverage increasing at a steady rate of 20-30%, the market is ever expanding. Chai Point has solidified its leadership position in the organized Chai segment and created a unique brand in a market which is now witnessing an aggressive formalization drive. The Company delights its customers with 0.3 million cups of Chai a day across all its channels – stores, delivery, and dispensers – and is poised to do 5X more in the next 3 years.

Commenting on the investment, Amuleek Singh Bijral, Co-founder and CEO, Chai Point said “This funding round is primarily aimed at further strengthening the brand’s multi-channel go-to-market. A substantial portion of our investment proceeds will go towards deepening our sales, marketing, and service operations for our automated hot beverage dispending business - boxC.in - which is the next growth driver for the business. High quality tea and coffee is fundamental to our growth and we are going to expand and refine our underlying sourcing program – “Garden to Glass”. Also, we look forward to delighting our customers with an especially enhanced food menu. “

Professor Tarun Khanna, Harvard Business School, Co-Founder Chai Point said, “Chai is integral to the rhythm of life in India. At Chai Point, we are using technology to enhance the customer experience, and are recommitting to strengthen our efforts towards environmental sustainability.

Siddharth Parekh, Co-Founder and Senior Partner, Paragon Partners, said “Amuleek and his team have built a strong brand with Chai Point, which has a great potential to be among the top home-grown brands in the country. We look forward to working with the Chai Point team and helping them scale up their operations.” “We are bullish on the consumption story in India and are excited to partner with the Company. This investment is in line with our overarching investment theme of partnering high-calibre entrepreneurs with compelling business models.”

Mr Parekh will also be joining the Board of the Company. DCS Advisory India (earlier Signal Hill Capital) was the exclusive advisor to the company for this fund raise.

Chai Point was founded in 2010 by Amuleek Singh Bijral and Professor Tarun Khanna of Harvard Business School and has now grown to become the largest organized Chai Company in India. Chai Point is an omnichannel Company with stores, delivery and fresh-milk based dispenser platform called boxC.in as its operating channels. Chai Point is set to launch its 100th store in May 2018 and has deployed close to 2,000 fresh-milk based dispensers. Chai Point is also the country’s largest hot beverage delivery brand and recently delivered its 11th Lakh flask. Key to Chai Point’s multi-channel capability is its proprietary cloud based platform called SHARK.

Read our featured story on Chai Point here.

Established in 2015, Paragon Partners is a private equity firm focusing on the lower mid-market segment in India. Investing out of its maiden fund Paragon Partners Growth Fund-I, the firm focuses on making investments in five key sectors comprising consumer discretionary, financial services, infrastructure services (asset light), industrials and healthcare services. The fund has a corpus of $120 million and invests $10 to $20 million in companies where it can play an active role in value creation.

In a competition to Chai Point, an another similar Tea-based startup -- Chai Break, which is based out of Kolkata, had received Rs 5 crore angel funding from Venture Catalysts of Mumbai to expand outlets of its chains, mostly in Tier II cities.

India is one of the world’s biggest tea consumer and Chai Point plans to double down on what is estimated to be a multi-million dollar market opportunity. Over the coming months, Chai Point will also face competition from the Tata Group, which has already launched its Tata Cha tea cafes and plans to aggressively ramp up.

Speaking about beverage startups, KIVA, a Gurugram based startup in the modern ayurvedic health juice space, has recently raised an undisclosed amount of funding from several marquee investors, including entrepreneurs in India and Silicon Valley.

Chai Point Launches a Cloud Based Beverage Services Platform boxC.in

Chai Point, Indian Chai retail chain, has announced the launch of boxC.in – a cloud based beverage services platform which includes fully automatic and IOT enabled dispensers.

The core purpose of the platform is to provide 100% authentic Chai and filter coffee at office pantries. The cloud based platform distinguishes itself by ensuring much higher level of transparency in both beverage quality, billing basis and service levels.

The IOT enabled dispensers are based on Chai Point’s core value of 100% pure ingredients – quality tea leaves and ground coffee, fresh milk and water. The cloud platform offers strong customer service capabilities with a CRM dashboard and a centralized command center to act on customer issues and data generated by the IOT enabled dispensers.

The command center enables Chai Point’s repair and maintenance team to deliver timely quality service as it live monitors the dashboard getting information from its IOT enabled dispensers.

Announcing the launch of boxC.in, Amuleek Singh, co-founder and CEO, Chai Point said, “Chai and filter coffee is fuel for all offices – these beverages are now considered as a core utility by corporates. The more savvy ones see good quality beverages as a must have employee engagement service. That said, authentic Chai and Filter coffee solutions are rarely available – you get compromises. What corporates also miss is an effective platform that assures a high uptime level of beverage services and transparency on the billing basis -  boxC.in is aimed to solve just that.”

Chai Point – a venture of Mountain Trail Foods Pvt Ltd, is India's Chai retail chain brings the perfectly brewed cup of Chai made with fresh, natural ingredients to offices and working professionals around the country. With over 90+ stores, a popular Chai-on-Call delivery service and a Chai-at-Work service designed for corporates, Chai Point is revolutionizing the way that Chai is consumed in India. Beginning with the first pilot microhub set up in Bangalore in April 2010, Chai Point has rapidly grown to become the go-to brand for a perfectly brewed cup of Chai with over 1.5 lakh cups of Chai sold every day.