Chai Point
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 Chai Point Logo | |
| Company type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food & Beverage |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founder | Amuleek Singh Bijral |
| Headquarters | Umiya Emporium, No. 97, 2nd floor, Hosur Main Road,, , |
Number of locations | 126 (May 2018) |
Area served | India |
Key people | Amuleek Singh Bijral (CEO) |
| Products | Tea and tea based beverages, coffee, indulgent shakes, snacks, sandwiches, packaged foods, hot beverage dispensers, packaged teas |
| Revenue | (150 Crore) |
Number of employees | 1200+ (2017) |
| Parent | Mountain Trail Foods Pvt. Ltd. |
| Website | Chai Point BoxC |
Chai Point is an Indian tea 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, India in 2010 by Amuleek Singh. The name Chai Point is derived from the word Chai which is the Hindi word for tea.[1] Amuleek Singh, the founder and current CEO of Chai Point is a Harvard Graduate. After he obtained his engineering degree from Thapar University, 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.[2][3]
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.[4]
The world’s largest Chai-led beverage platform, Chai Point, is an omni-channel brand that started in 2010. The Company reaches millions of customers every day through multiple touch points including retail stores, cloud kitchens, corporate offices and institutions, consumer packaged goods, and HORECA (hotels, restaurants, and cafes). myChai™ brewing system is a proprietary Cloud-connected Chai and coffee brewing technology platform that gives Chai Point the capability to brew fresh chai and coffee with consistent quality on a global scale. Chai Point is present in India through its retail network of over 180 stores across 9 major cities and in over 3500 workplace community hubs across 21 cities through its specialised brewing systems.
With single-origin tea from Assam’s finest estates and 100% single-origin Arabica coffee beans from Rainforest Alliance-certified estates of Chikmagalur, Karnataka, Chai Point is already serving over 700,000 cups every day. Chai Point is the first company in India to launch environment-friendly heat retaining Chai flasks in 2016 that can keep the chai, coffee hot for up to 2 hours.
As the brand continues to expand across formats with myChai™, the Company is aiming to tap into one million small and mid-size bakeries and cafes by bringing them onto a single platform. The Company plans to install 30,000 myChai™ brewing systems across India in the next 3 – 5 years giving it the largest footprint in the retail channel in India.
Towards the brand purpose of brewing an authentic cup that brightens lives and brings people together, the Chai Point Rewards program not only continuously delights and rewards its customers but also engages communities in a unique manner through the IROC – I Run on Chai program, which is seamlessly integrated in the Chai Point mobile app.
Chai Point is backed by marquee investors like Eight Roads Ventures (part of Fidelity Investments Inc.), Saama Capital, DSG and Paragon Partners. The Company has raised over $50 million in funds till date.
Locations
Chai Point has presence in eight Indian cities 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 Service'[1]' focused primarily at corporation.
Model
Unlike other similar beverage chains, which run on a Basic Franchise Model, Chai Point runs on a company-owned store Model. [5]
Investors
Chai Point raised a total of ₹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 ₹132 crore ($20 million) in series C funding, its single-largest round so far.[6] Key investors in Chai Point include:[citation needed]
- Eight Road Ventures (Lead Investor, formerly Fidelity Growth Partners India)
- DSG Investors
- Saama Capital
- Paragon Partners [7][8]
References
- ^ "Get your favourite Chai delivered in 30 mins - Chai Point". chaipoint.com.
- ^ Sebastian, Nidhia (28 May 2020). "Startup Story: How Chai Point quenches India's thirst for hot tea". TimesNext. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ^ "Chai Point - Amuleek Singh Story from Harvard University to a Chai Startup in India". Business Alligators. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ^ Balakrishnan, Reghu (31 March 2015). "Harvard, IIT graduates are tea sellers, too". Business Standard India. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ^ "Chai Point - Amuleek Singh Story from Harvard University to a Chai Startup in India". Business Alligators. 29 August 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ^ "Chai Point to invest up to Rs 120 mn, add 30 stores in FY19". Business Standard. 22 June 2018. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
- ^ "Chai Point raises $20 million in Series C funding from Paragon Partner". www.livemint.com.
- ^ "Chai Point gets $20 million fresh funds from Paragon Partners-led investors". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 19 April 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
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