Regional content startup Chai Bisket has raised $5 million in seed funding to launch Chai Shots, a short-format, fiction-first storytelling platform aimed at Gen Z and young Bharat. The round was led by InfoEdge Ventures and General Catalyst, with participation from notable angels including actor Rana Daggubati, Swiggy’s founders, and Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal.
Positioned as a mobile-first, micro-drama OTT play, Chai Shots is designed to serve original content in 2-minute episodes, starting in Telugu and scaling to Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, and other regional languages. The company plans to launch over 100 original series in six months, betting on a massive white space in India’s short-form fiction segment one still largely untouched by mainstream OTTs.
This isn’t just another short video experiment. It’s a focused, narrative-led product rooted in regional storytelling, built for attention-deficit audiences, and backed by an operational team with deep content, tech, and vernacular expertise.
A Format That Reflects Cultural Shifts
India’s digital consumers especially in Tier 2 and 3 cities are increasingly mobile-native, entertainment-hungry, and algorithm-driven. While YouTube Shorts, Reels, and TikTok-style clones have captured the non-fiction short video space, fiction in short format remains underserved, especially in regional languages.
This is the gap Chai Bisket intends to own.
With episodes under two minutes, each series will unfold over 5–15 parts, creating binge-worthy arcs that mirror how Gen Z consumes content today fragmented, fast, and flavor-packed. Unlike traditional OTTs that prioritize long-form, high-budget series, Chai Shots aims to offer snackable dramas that fit between daily routines, powered by native writers, hyperlocal themes, and low-cost high-output production.
The format is tightly optimised for both low-data environments and high-scroll habits a combination the founders believe is key to unlocking mass viewership in India’s next billion users.
From Content Studio to Consumer Platform
Chai Bisket is no newcomer to the regional content game. Started in 2016, it began as a vernacular media studio focused on Telugu pop culture and millennial humour. Over the years, it built a cult following across YouTube, Instagram, and social platforms with a portfolio that spans memes, branded content, music videos, and short films.
The transition from content creation to platform-building is both natural and ambitious. With Chai Shots, the team is stepping into full-stack consumer tech owning not just production, but also distribution, monetisation, and user experience.
To power this shift, the startup has expanded its team to over 100 people across content, product, engineering, and partnerships. Key hires include professionals from Swiggy, ShareChat, Pocket Aces, and The Viral Fever signalling a hybrid culture of storytelling and scale.
Strategic Investors, Regional Vision
The capital raise brings in not just funding, but deep ecosystem access.
InfoEdge Ventures, which has backed companies like Gramophone, Rigi, and DotPe, brings operational insight and early-stage discipline. General Catalyst, a US-based VC firm, is a signal of global capital recognising regional IP as a scalable frontier.
The angel roster including names like Rana Daggubati, Sriharsha Majety (Swiggy), and Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon) reflects a rare convergence of entertainment, tech, and startup firepower around vernacular content.
For these investors, the bet is not just on a content app but on a new category of storytelling product designed for Bharat.
The Race to Monetise Short-Form Fiction
While short-form video has exploded in India post-TikTok, most platforms rely on non-fiction comedy, influencer-led content, or quick takes on news and trends. Fiction, however, has largely remained the domain of long-form OTT platforms.
With Chai Shots, Chai Bisket is attempting to carve a third lane short-form fictional storytelling for regional youth. The monetization roadmap includes brand partnerships, creator IP collaborations, and direct user payments although the app is expected to launch free-to-view at first to drive scale.
In many ways, Chai Shots reflects the evolution of content demand in India: moving beyond language barriers, compressing timeframes, and focusing on repeat engagement over duration.
A Content-First, Infrastructure-Lite Play
Unlike traditional OTT players who invest heavily in infrastructure, licensing, and studio networks, Chai Shots is designed to be lean. The idea is to own IP, control quality, and scale fast without the baggage of expensive tech builds or platform bloat.
The app’s early MVP has been under stealth testing in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and will launch to public in Q3 2025. Early feedback indicates strong stickiness in the 18–30 demographic a key validation ahead of its national rollout.
Final Word
As India’s digital ecosystem matures, the next big breakout categories are likely to emerge not from metropolitan tech corridors but from the intersection of regional relevance, entertainment depth, and platform simplicity.
Chai Bisket’s Chai Shots is one such bet: a micro-drama engine designed for the smartphone generation, backed by serious capital, and rooted in storytelling rather than scale hacks.
If it works, it could define an entirely new genre of consumer internet in India one where fiction gets faster, regional goes mainstream, and content meets culture halfway.
