What Chaayos does

Chaayos (legally Sunshine Teahouse Private Limited) is an Indian chai café chain and packaged consumer goods company founded in November 2012 in Gurugram by IIT alumni Nitin Saluja and Raghav Verma. The company operates 200+ café outlets primarily across Delhi-NCR, with additional presence in Mumbai and Bengaluru, and aims to expand to 400 outlets. Its core offering centers on customizable chai priced at Rs 99-159 per cup, backed by a tech-enabled platform featuring an AI-powered personalization engine supporting 80,000+ drink combinations and IoT-integrated Chai Monks brewing robots that standardize quality across locations.

The business operates an omnichannel model spanning company-owned cafés, the Chaayos Bazaar direct-to-consumer e-commerce storefront, Amazon India marketplace, and a mobile app featuring the Loyaltea loyalty program with facial recognition and OTP authentication. Packaged goods — including instant tea premixes, loose-leaf chai patti, herbal and green teas, chai masala spices, Kashmiri saffron, and chai-time snacks — contributed 95.32% of revenue as of FY25, reflecting a pandemic-era pivot from café-only operations toward an FMCG-anchored model. The company also acquired cookie maker Dohful in November 2024 to diversify into adjacent food categories.

FY25 revenue reached Rs 310.6 crore (up 25% YoY from Rs 248.6 crore), with EBITDA of Rs 37 crore (a 6.5x increase) and losses narrowing 53% to Rs 25.4 crore. The company has raised approximately $93.8 million across multiple rounds including a $45M Series C led by Alpha Wave Ventures in June 2022, and as of April 2026 is raising $50-70M (with Avendus advising) to fund expansion, while Tiger Global seeks to exit via a ~$20M secondary component. Chaayos targets urban value-conscious consumers (working professionals aged 20-45) for café visits and a broader home-consumption segment for packaged goods, positioning as the 'anti-Starbucks' chai-first alternative.

Name

Chaayos

Legal name

Sunshine Teahouse Private Limited

Website

https://chaayos.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Chaayos (Sunshine Teahouse Private Limited) is an Indian chai café chain and packaged tea FMCG company operating 200+ outlets across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, plus Chaayos Bazaar e-commerce, serving urban value-conscious consumers with customizable chai and at-home tea products.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Tea Café

NAICS

Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515), Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920), Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (31192), Beverage Manufacturing (3121)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Beverages (2080)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Tea Shops (Loose-Leaf, Tea Bars) (THAFAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Tea (Leaf, Bagged, Instant, Concentrates) (CRADAHAE), Instant Tea, Tea Extracts & Concentrates Manufacturing (AFAFADAH), Specialty Coffee & Tea Retail (Beans, Leaves, Accessories) (CRAHAGAI), Milk Tea & Flavored Tea Beverage Shops (Non-Boba) (THAFAKAI)

Keywords

• Customized chai beverages
• Tea cafe chain
• Instant tea premixes
• Packaged tea products
• Chai retail outlets

Headquarters

HQ city

New Delhi

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Cafe Sales (Dine-in and Takeaway): Revenue from sale of customized tea and snacks at physical cafe outlets. Core business model with tea prices ranging from Rs 99-159 per cup, targeting value-conscious consumers.
2. Packaged Consumer Goods (FMCG): Sale of packaged tea products including instant tea premixes, chai patti, tea bags, and spices through e-commerce (Chaayos Bazaar) and retail partners like Amazon. Contributed 50% of total revenue as of FY23, emerging as major growth vertical.
3. Acquisition of Dohful: In November 2024, Chaayos acquired cookie maker Dohful to diversify beyond beverages into food categories, expanding the product portfolio available at cafes and through packaged goods channels.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Chaayos runs a 200+ outlet tech-enabled tea café chain across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, serving customizable chai from over 80,000 combinations prepared through IoT-integrated 'Chai Monks' robots and an AI personalization engine. Alongside dine-in and takeaway, it sells packaged FMCG tea products (instant premixes, loose teas, green teas, herbal teas, chai masala, snacks, and gift boxes) through its Chaayos Bazaar e-commerce site and Amazon.in. The business is operated under Sunshine Teahouse Private Limited.

Product overview

Chaayos is an Indian tea café chain and packaged goods company offering both dine-in café experiences and consumer packaged products. The core offering centers on customizable chai with over 80,000 combinations, powered by IoT-enabled brewing technology. The packaged goods portfolio spans instant tea premixes (Masala, Ginger Cardamom, Cardamom, Ginger, Kesar), loose leaf teas (green teas, chai patti), pyramid tea bags, and herbal blends including the signature God's Chai with 21 Ayurvedic ingredients. Complementing beverages are chai-time snacks (Bhakarwadi, Mini Samosas, Methi Matthi, Gur Para, cookies, rusks) and natural spices (chai masala, cinnamon, cardamom, saffron). The omnichannel model includes 200+ company-owned and franchised cafés, e-commerce via Chaayos Bazaar, and B2B partnerships. The company also acquired cookie brand Dohful in 2024 to expand beyond beverages.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Chaayos Cafés Chain of 200+ company-owned tea cafés across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru offering dine-in and takeaway customized chai from over 80,000 combinations prepared using IoT-enabled Chai Monks brewing robots and AI personalization.
• Instant Tea Premixes Ready-to-use instant chai premix sachets in flavors including Masala, Ginger Cardamom, Cardamom, Ginger, and Kesar (regular and low sugar variants), sold in packs of 15-36 sachets. Each 8g sachet makes a 100ml cup.
• Chai Patti (Loose Tea) Loose tea blends including Masala Chai Patti, Adrak Elaichi Chai (Ginger Cardamom), and Desi Chai — Assam Gold Tea, in 100g-400g packs.
• Loose Leaf Green Tea Whole-leaf green teas including Tulsi Cardamom, Lemongrass Ginger, Turmeric Cardamom, Turmeric Cinnamon, and Cinnamon varieties in 100g packs (approximately 50 cups each), priced Rs 299-339.
• Pyramid Tea Bags Pyramid-style green tea bags including Chamomile Green Tea, Tulsi Cardamom Green Tea, Turmeric Cardamom Green Tea, Masala Chai Tea Bags, Mint Saunf Green Tea, and Hibiscus Mulethi Green Tea in packs of 25-100 bags.
• Herbal & Specialty Teas Specialty herbal teas including God's Chai (a blend of 21 ancient Indian herbs and botanicals such as Green Tea, Rose Petals, Arjun Bark, Ashwagandha, Brahmi, Cinnamon, Tulsi, Ginger) and Caffeine-free Chamomile Herbal Tea, plus Rose Tea.
• Chai Masala Blend Aromatic spice blend with dried Ginger, Green Cardamom, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, and Clove for flavoring chai. Available in 100g (250 cups) and 200g (500 cups) packs at Rs 269-459.
• Natural Spices (Cinnamon, Cardamom, Saffron) Single-origin spices including 100% natural Sri Lankan Cinnamon Powder (50g, Idukki Kerala), export-quality Cardamom Seed Powder (50g glass bottle, >8% essential oil), and Pure A++ Grade Kashmiri Saffron threads (1g, hand-harvested, vacuum-packed).
• Chai-Time Snacks Traditional Indian snacks paired with chai, including Bhakarwadi (sweet-spicy Maharashtrian spirals), Mini Samosas, Methi Matthi (Rajasthani fenugreek crackers), Gur Para (Punjabi jaggery bites), Suji Rusk (400g), and handmade Coconut and Dry Fruit Cookies (450g). Available in 150g-450g packs at Rs 124-374.
• Gift Boxes Premium gifting assortments including Festival Gift Boxes, Divine Diwali Gift Boxes, Eco-Friendly Seed Gift Box, and Premium Kulhad Gift Box, combining teas, spices, and snacks.
• Chaayos Mobile App (Loyaltea Programme) Mobile application enabling tea customization, café ordering, and the Loyaltea loyalty program with facial recognition login and OTP authentication for personalized offers and repeat-visit tracking.
• Dohful (Acquired Brand) Cookie brand acquired by Chaayos in November 2024, expanding the company's packaged food portfolio beyond chai into baked goods.

Quantifiable outcome

• Revenue of Rs 310.6 crore in FY25, up 25% YoY
• +3 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• DohfulcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2024In November 2024, Chaayos acquired cookie maker Dohful to diversify beyond beverages. This strategic acquisition expands the product portfolio into food categories.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters: Specialty coffee roaster and café chain combining cafe, e-commerce, and B2B packaged goods. Closely comparable business model to Chaayos's omnichannel café + DTC packaged goods structure.
• Rage Coffee: Indian DTC coffee and beverage brand selling packaged products via e-commerce and modern retail. Comparable on the packaged beverage / e-commerce FMCG side of Chaayos's business.
• Vero Chaayos competitor - Vero Moda Cafe type Indian tea chain: Emerging Indian tea café brand targeting chai customization in metros. Comparable as a smaller-scale tea café peer testing similar value-conscious positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Third Wave Coffee: India's largest VC-funded specialty coffee café chain. Comparable as a tech-enabled urban beverage café peer competing for similar millennial/Gen-Z café real estate and wallet share.
• Wagh Bakri Tea Group: One of India's largest packaged tea FMCG companies with national distribution. Comparable as the dominant incumbent Chaayos competes with in its growing packaged goods vertical.
• Barista Coffee (Lavazza): Long-established Indian café chain now owned by Lavazza. Comparable as an established beverage café operator benchmarking per-store economics and customer loyalty in similar Indian metros.
• Tata Consumer Products: Large Indian FMCG conglomerate owning Tata Tea, Tetley, and Tata Cha. Comparable as the broad incumbent in both packaged tea and tea café categories where Chaayos operates.

Direct peers

• Tea Junction: Indian tea café retail chain operating multi-city outlets serving chai alongside snacks. Directly comparable as a tea-focused café competitor in similar urban Indian markets.
• Tata Cha: Tata Consumer Products' premium tea café chain offering customizable chai in urban India. Directly comparable to Chaayos in product format, customization proposition, and Indian metro target market.
• Chai Point: India's largest organized chai retailer operating a tech-enabled chai café and beverage subscription model. Direct competitor to Chaayos with comparable IoT brewing and direct-to-consumer tea delivery.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Chaayos
• Facebookfacebook.com/Chaayos
• Instagraminstagram.com/chaayos/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds8 records

Investors10 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chaayos