Chai Bisket secures $5 million from InfoEdge Ventures, General Catalyst to launch microdrama platform Chai Shots

Chai Bisket co founders Anurag Reddy, Sharath Chandra, Krishna Mohan Varma

Hyderabad-based digital content startup Chai Bisket announced on July 9 that it has closed $5 million seed funding round led by InfoEdge Ventures and General Catalyst, highlighting growing investor interest in microdrama platforms.

The funding round also saw participation from several marquee angel investors, including actor Rana Daggubati, Swiggy co-founders Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy, Rapido co-founders Aravind Sanka, Rishikesh SR and Pavan Guntupalli, and redBus founder Phanindra Sama.

PhysicsWallah co-founders Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, Darwinbox co-founder Rohit Chennamaneni, Virgio founder Amar Nagaram, and TiE Nizamabad also participated in the round.

The company said the funding will be used to launch and grow Chai Shots, a mobile-first streaming platform that will offer microdramas in 2-minute episodes.

Targeted at Gen Z users as well as audiences in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, Chai Shots will debut with original content in Telugu and later expand into multiple languages in the coming months. The platform plans to release over 100 original shows in the first six months.

“We’re extremely bullish on microdramas as a format, especially in regional markets like Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada, where there's both strong demand and high willingness to pay for original content," said Kitty Agarwal, partner at InfoEdge Ventures.

"In this space, content is the product and the Chai Shots team are veterans of the craft, with over a decade of experience in consistently delivering high-quality storytelling. We’re excited to back their vision," she said.

Founded by Sharath Chandra and Anurag Reddy in 2015, Chai Bisket operates a range of Telugu YouTube channels and digital content platforms that attract more than 50 million video views each month.

The startup says it has produced over 1,000 YouTube videos and more than 3,000 short-form videos, generating over 2 billion views to date. Chai Bisket's storytelling footprint also spans across web series, short films, and full-length feature films.

With a team of over 100 members based in Hyderabad, Chai Bisket offers full-stack capabilities across content creation, digital strategy, and audience building, and is now expanding into technology and product development. Krishna Mohan Varma, who heads the company's tech and product function, has joined the founding team as a co-founder.

“In today’s world, storytelling lives in the palm of your hand that's fast, emotional, and unmistakably local. Chai Shots has built a short-video streaming platform that taps into how India consumes content," said Rahul Garg, partner at General Catalyst. "This team isn’t just reacting to culture, they’re creating it. We look forward to partnering with Sharath, Anurag & Krishna as they grow," Garg added.

Chai Bisket co-founder Chandra stated that Chai Shots was born out of a shift in consumer behavior. “While platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have proven the massive demand for short-form video, the space is still dominated by user-generated content,” he said.

“We believe it's time to elevate the format — to blend the emotional power of fiction with the speed and convenience of short-form, and to do it at scale, in our languages, and on our terms,” he added.

Reddy, another co-founder, noted "We’ve spent ten years building a storytelling engine rooted in emotional truth and regional identity. With Chai Shots, we’re taking that to the next level - by creating a scalable entertainment brand made for mobile, powered by creators, and built for the future of India’s digital generation.”

Serialised short-form dramas have gained rapid traction among Indian audiences over the past year, fueled by mobile-first user base and surging interest in short-form video content.

As a result, a number of startups are now racing to capitalise on this trend. These include Kuku FM's Kuku TV, Nazara Technologies-backed ReelSaga, Pocket FM's Pocket TV, ShareChat’s Quick TV, Zee Entertainment-backed Bullet, Amazon MX Player’s MX Fatafat, and Eloelo’s StoryTV.

Last month, Flick TV also raised $2.3 million in a seed funding round led by Stellaris Venture Partners.

According to data from market research firm Venture Intelligence, micro-drama platforms have raised $44 million across six rounds in 2025 so far, marking a notable jump from the $28 million raised across five deals in all of 2024.