Chai Point is an Indian
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
company and a cafe chain which focuses on tea-based beverages. As of October, 2017, the company also started selling their teas on Amazon.in, making it their first foray into distribution via the e-commerce platform. Chai Point's motto of "India runs on Chai" is apt for Indians' love for tea.
History
Chai Point was founded in
Bengaluru, Karnataka
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, India in 2010 by Amuleek Singh. The name Chai Point is derived from the word
Chai which is the
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...
word for tea. Amuleek Singh, the founder and current CEO of Chai Point is a Harvard Graduate. After he obtained his engineering degree from
Thapar University
Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), formerly Thapar University, is a deemed-to-be-university, in Patiala, India. It was founded in 1956 by Karam Chand Thapar. The university provides a wide range of courses from The Arts a ...
, Punjab, India, he worked with Microsoft for some time. After this once he completed his MBA from Harvard, that's when he wanted to work on a startup.
Chai (Tea) is an integral part of a large majority of Indian home and different varieties of teas are also not alien to most of the Indians. Amuleek Singh, however, created an entire ecosystem of making the tea and its packaging more appealing to white collar Indians who were latching on to the high end coffee joints.
Locations
Chai Point has presence in eight
Indian cities
The following tables are the list of cities in India by population. Often cities are bifurcated into multiple regions (municipalities) which results in creation of cities within cities which may figure in the list. The entire work of this article ...
with presence across retail locations, airports, and business parks. In addition to physical format stores, the chain has a delivery service and a vending based solution called 'Vending as a Servic
focused primarily at corporation.
Model
Unlike other similar beverage chains, which run on a
Franchising, Basic Franchise Model, Chai Point runs on a company-owned store Model.
Investors
Chai Point raised a total of
₹
The Indian rupee sign (₹) is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its select ...
71.2
crore ($10 million) in round one of funding in September, 2015. On April 19, 2018, tea retailer Chai Point said it had raised
₹
The Indian rupee sign (₹) is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its select ...
132
crore ($20 million) in series C funding, its single-largest round so far. Key investors in Chai Point include:
* Eight Road Ventures (Lead Investor, formerly
Fidelity
Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of ''fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word ''fidēlis'', meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London ...
Growth Partners India)
* DSG Investors
* Saama Capital
* Paragon Partners
References
{{Reflist
External links
Instagram accountTea and cafe point in Gtb nagar delhi
Tea houses
Drink companies of India
2010 establishments in Karnataka