Chaayos

The company said the funding round was led by Alpha Wave Ventures with participation from all existing investors -- Elevation Capital, Tiger Global and Think Investments

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

The company has 1.7 million registered guests across 80 cafes in eight cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Noida, Gurugram, Chandigarh and Faridabad.

To cater to those individual tastes, and to make sure that you get your "meri wali chai", Delhi-based tea cafe chain Chaayos is offering 80,000 permutations and combinations of tea to customers

Customers at Chaayos complained about the camera technology they said captured images of them without their consent, with no information on what the data would be used for, and no option to opt out

Currently it operates 65 cafes across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Chandigarh and Mumbai

The challenge with tea is putting a premium on what is a staple item in Indian homes

The tea chain follows a simple rule of thumb - customise if you want to rule

This infusion of funds will be used to strengthen its foothold in the already existing markets by introducing more cafes

The company has developed a customised Internet of Things-based tea-making machine, 'Chai Monk'

Our starting point was to figure out what kind of tea the country drinks, says Nitin Saluja