In the recent years, there has been a tremendous development in Chai Industry (Tea Industry). A number of chai startups are hitting the grounds because of the vacuum of any sophisticated place to have tea market there is. Tea, although is the top beverage in India, lacked a quality place where it would be served. Hence, many aspiring entrepreneurs are grabbing the opportunity and starting chai startup. According to BBC News, India consumes 837,000 tonnes of tea per annum. Despite hundreds of elegant coffee places around, ‘Desi Chai’ is irreplaceable.
Labeled as the most favorite beverage among Indians, it was lacking a proper place in the market. With the number of establishing startups hitting the notch, chai was a mandatory business to step in.
Therefore, here are the top chai startups of India:
Founder – Amuleek Singh Bijral
Headquarter – Bengaluru
Year of establishment – 2010
Investors – 8 road ventures, Saama Capital, DSG investors
Total Funding – $12 million
Operating states – Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi
The first chai startup of India; started by a Harvard ex-student, Chai Point is one of the most flourishing tea cafe chains of the country. It provides a separate counter for the smokers, outside the café, which is the major attraction. With introducing the on delivery, the system in less than 30 minutes Chai Point makes itself stand out of the box. Garnering the funding of $10 million recently after a previous funding of $2 million by Saama Capital, Chai Point has shown some great development and achievements in its journey in becoming one of the best leading chai startups of the country. The company also deals in chai and coffee dispensers, which is another unique aspect.
Chai Point has 16 outlets in the Delhi/NCR region and is looking forward to expanding, the venture to Mumbai and Bangalore as well. Its founders plan to open kiosks at prominent metro stations in order to give tough rivalry to the chai as well as coffee players in the business.
Related- How to Start a Beverage Business
-
Teabox
Founder – Kaushal Dugar
Headquarter – Darjeeling, West Bengal
Year of establishment – 2012
Investor – Ratan Tata (undisclosed), Robert M Bass, Cameron Jones
Total Funding – $4.7 Million
Operating countries – India, USA, EU
The second highest revenue-generating Indian Chai Startup is a premium tea-selling endeavor that deals in loose tea leaves. They make a commitment of availing their customers with fresh tea leaves within 1 week. They bring Darjeeling, Assam, Neelgiris, and Nepal’s far-famed and beloved tea. Approximately 95% of revenue is generated, from outside the nation.
Asserted by its founder as the most promising e-commerce startup, Teabox has managed to garner many tidings for receiving funding from the infamous business tycoon Ratan Tata. Bringing in the flavors from the ‘tea-hub’ of the country, Dugar has managed to make millions of his efforts and unique idea. Teabox directly deals with the tea farmers, eliminating the factor of involving a third party expenditure.
Founder – Raghav Verma and Nitin Saluja
Headquarter – Gurgaon, Haryana
Year of establishment – 2012
Investor – Tiger Global Management
Total Funding – $5 million
Operating cities – NCR (Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad)
Established by two IITian engineers, Chaayos is the fastest growing Chai Café Startup of the country. The company also offers the feature of online delivery, attaining its fame for the various experiments on Chai flavors. The company serves 1200 different types of tea brewing. They step into the market claiming to be providing the most sophisticated place for tea lovers; similar to what is Starbucks doing for coffee lovers.
The seller of thousands of teacups per day, the startup has established a great reputation for itself in the cities it is established. Chaayos aims at getting its customers their own personalized flavor of tea; for its founders know the fact that in India everyone has a unique liking when it comes to tea which is phrased as, ‘Meri Wali Chai’. Their special flavors include black pepper, rose cardamom, Mirchi, and mint flavored chai. Chaayos has built a strong ground for itself in a short time.
Founder – Asad Khan, Robin Jha, Atit Verma
Headquarter – New Delhi
Year of establishment – 2013
Investors – Ashish Gupta, co-founder Evalueserve
Total Funding – Undisclosed
Operating cities – Delhi-NCR
Another tea startup from Delhi NCR delivers its customer the best quality at the lowest price. Snacks, and tea, the trio dived into the business cosmos striking on the ‘daily obsession’ of Indians.
Leaving the high paying job, its founder Robin Jha chose to risk his investments and hard-earned money in starting his own business. Evaluating the current market and people’s demand, Jha came up with the very idea of Tpot.
CEO Robin Jha, who was recently in talks for the inauguration of the 20th café of the Chai Nashta (tea with snacks) chain, has a plan to take his endeavor to greater heights in the next few years. With the opening of two new outlets at Connaught place, Tpot has flourished with its variety of chai and nashta. From their specialty hibiscus tea to the ordinary masala chai, they have it all with the exotic nashta range that is present at an affordable rate. Probably, that is the reason tpot has become one of the most successful chai startups of India!
Founder – Chirag Yadav
Headquarter – Bangalore, Karnataka
Year of establishment – 2010
Funding – Self-funded
Operating places – Bangalore
An electronics and communication engineer basically, Chirag, having to be a multi-talented person himself, he has enriched his business with the diversity. The criteria that lead him to this idea were the marvelous Bangalore weather, and it is an incredibly nurturing environment for new ventures. Having to be working in the marketing field earlier, with a number of MNCs after which he planned to start a business. After leaving the job, he became a Salsa instructor, which was followed by him starting a branding and social media marketing firm. After which came Chaipatty!
Chaipatty is one of the most promising tea startups of the country with four ‘Teafes’, as they call their cafes, all across Bangalore. The special Handmade Kullad tea is infamous for the traditional authenticity it brings.
Being an art store, it greets its customers with beautiful classic ambiance, dipped into the great culture that our Indians have inherited with every generation.
Founder – Pankaj Judge and Nitin Chaudhary
Headquarter – Delhi
Year of establishment – 2014
Investors – Quarizon Venture
Total Funding – 1.5 Crore INR
Operating Cities – Delhi NCR
Renowned for its simplicity, Chai Thela was the initiation of an IITian, which serves you tea in its classic way. They have installed kiosks or, thellas as we commonly call them, just the way it has been so far. The best part is that their clients do not really have to increase the budgets, as they can get tea in most hygienic conditions with least price.
Pankaj said, “He doesn’t confuse his customer by providing hundreds of chai brewing options, he loves the simplicity and serving only 25 types of tea and adrak wali chai is their major attraction.” The dramatic story of Pankaj Judge in establishing the business named Chai Thela followed by a venture, which closed, but many people have read about it.
It is never an easy task to establish a successful business; there are losses, bankruptcy, dealing with reluctant investors, high risks, and what not.
The firm has so far installed numerous Tea selling kiosks across Delhi NCR region.
Judge and Chaudhary met through a mutual friend and decided to make a living from their mutual passion and love for chai. Today the Chai chain has six outlets in the NCR region along with a footfall of 500-600 cups per outlet. Chai Thela has planned to reach urban hubs like Ahmedabad and Delhi this year.
Founder – Parvez Gupta
Headquarter – Siliguri, West Bengal
Year of establishment – 2012
Funding – Self-funded
The brainchild of Parvez Gupta found its wings with the genius marketing skills of Soveet Gupta, and the legacy-love for Chai of Punit Poddar. Hence, three tea enthusiasts started this much-loved and infamous Udyan Tea venture with each one investing his unique expertise.
Parvez, being a techie is the back-end panache, Soveet handles the marketing and business development being the marketing mastermind, and Punit being from the lovable land of tea and holding 12 years of experience in tea tasting is the mind behind the enchanting flavors Udyan brings. Udyan Tea deals in tea leaves.
The unique fact about this firm is, it is the only tea consultancy in the country, which not only does business to client dealing but also the business-to-business ones.
so good to hear that your work is getting such national attention sir rahul, chaisa indeed is the best good old cup of tea for jaipurites, hope to see a lot more chaisas not only in the city but across the country so that no one misses the traditional cup of tea. all the very best for future.
yup now a days Chai Startup is on Trending….
Hi, I’m looking to open a tea outlet in Malaysia.
Where
Tips for chai start up are solicited
New chai startup named Chayum started in Janak Puri, Delhi
We are mfg instant Lemon Grass Spicy Tea Pre-mix Powder (Just add boil Milk and stir). Instant Flavoured Cold Coffee, Instant Flavoured Hot Coffee, Instant Hot Chocolate, Instant Flavoured Chocolate Milkshakes Pre-mixes with so many varieties. Best for Hotels, Parlors, Caterers, and Consumer.
I want samples. I will pay for samples so inform me.
Can I get samples? Please give me your mail id
you both can mail me to get connected
Any other flavor or just single flavor in tea? And where is your business located? Are you interested in venturing into Odisha or Bhubaneswar the capital zone?
Send details
Sir how to start chai startup? I think this is a good startup because Indians love chai a lot.
Please check this link for the same
https://www.businessalligators.com/start-tea-business/
Very useful article explaining the detailed information about TEA Startups. Thanks.