Chai Bisket Raises USD 5 Mn Led by InfoEdge Ventures & General Catalyst to Launch Chai Shots The seed round also drew backing from a stellar list of angel investors, including actor and entrepreneur Rana Daggubati, Swiggy co-founders Sri Harsha Majety and Nandan Reddy, redBus founder Phanindra Sama, Darwinbox's Rohit Chennamaneni, PhysicsWallah's Alakh Pandey and Prateek, Rapido's founding team, and Virgio's Amar Nagaram.
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Chai Bisket, the Hyderabad-based digital content powerhouse, has raised USD 5 million in a seed round led by InfoEdge Ventures and General Catalyst to fuel the launch of Chai Shots, a regional-first, mobile-only microdrama OTT platform.
This new platform aims to deliver ultra-short, high-quality fiction content tailored for India's next billion entertainment consumers.
The seed round also drew backing from a stellar list of angel investors, including actor and entrepreneur Rana Daggubati, Swiggy co-founders Sri Harsha Majety and Nandan Reddy, redBus founder Phanindra Sama, Darwinbox's Rohit Chennamaneni, PhysicsWallah's Alakh Pandey and Prateek, Rapido's founding team, and Virgio's Amar Nagaram.
Founded in 2015 by Sharath Chandra and Anurag Reddy, Chai Bisket has become a cultural force in South India's digital landscape, producing over 2 billion views across its YouTube channels, and playing a key role in shaping regional storytelling through films, web series, and viral short dramas. The team also co-produced the critically acclaimed film Major and has been actively experimenting with short fictional formats since 2021.
The newly announced Chai Shots platform delivers fiction in bite-sized two-minute episodes, catering to Gen Z and tier II–III users. The product is built for mobile-first consumption and will launch first in Telugu, expanding into Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada soon. The platform, co-led by Sharath, Anurag, and new co-founder Krishna Mohan Varma (who leads tech), plans to launch over 100 original shows in the first six months.
"In today's world, storytelling lives in the palm of your hand," said Rahul Garg, Partner at General Catalyst. "This team isn't just reacting to culture, they're creating it."
Actor and investor Rana Daggubati stated, "The future of stories is fast, local, and emotional. Chai Shots gets that."
Sharath Chandra added, "We're here to elevate short-form content by blending fiction's emotional depth with mobile convenience — in our languages and on our terms."
With deep roots in content and a sharp tech vision, Chai Bisket is now betting big on microdramas as India's next storytelling frontier, redefining how Bharat watches and feels entertainment.
