India-based Chaayos, a network of tech-enhanced chai cafes, has secured US $53 million in a Series C round that was co-led by Alpha Wave Ventures and included Elevation Capital, Think Investments, and Tiger Global.
Customers of Chaayos may customize their chai with 80,000 options using the company’s unique “Chai Monk” Internet of Things-enabled tea bots. Then, within two minutes, the cafe’s equipment will brew its beverages. For quicker checkouts and carefully chosen product samples, the chain also provides an AI platform with capabilities like facial recognition.
The firm has been able to expand quite fast thanks to its tech-first, omnichannel model because the strategy doesn’t call for employee training and makes it easier for customers to access the company’s website. 52 percent of Chaayos’ customers use the chain’s mobile app, which also has a reward program, and it generates 45 percent of its sales.
The new monies will be applied to recruiting, retail growth, and technological improvements going ahead. The F&B company, which Nitin Saluja and Raghav Verma started in 2012, already has 190 locations across six cities and plans to add 100 more by the end of the year.
By the end of 2022, the worldwide F&B e-commerce market is anticipated to develop at a compound yearly growth rate of 22.2 percent, reaching US $57.1 billion.
