NEW DELHI: Leading “chai” (tea) cafe chain Chaayos on Thursday announced it has raised $53 million in Series C funding led by Alpha Wave Ventures. The company said it will use the money for tech-enhancement, hiring and store expansion. The latest round saw participation from existing investors Elevation Capital, Tiger Global and Think Investments. Founded in 2012 by Nitin Saluja and Raghav Verma, Chaayos runs 190 stores across six cities and plans to add 100 more by the end of this year. At Chaayos, people can personalise their cup of tea in 80,000 combinations with IoT-enabled tea bots called ‘Chai Monks,’ which started off as a niche use case. Chaayos online Chai deliveries now account for 45 per cent of revenues, said the company.

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