General Catalyst backs Indian content firm Chai Bisket’s $5m round

Chai Bisket, a digital content company based in South India, has raised US$5 million in a seed funding round led by InfoEdge Ventures and General Catalyst.

The funding will be used to launch Chai Shots, a mobile-first OTT platform that offers short-form fiction content.

Founded in 2015 by Sharath Chandra and Anurag Reddy, Chai Bisket has established a presence in regional content.

The team has been joined by Krishna Mohan Varma, who will oversee technology development for the platform.

The company has accumulated over 2 billion views across its platforms.

It has also produced theatrical films, web series, and short dramas, including the film Major.

The platform targets younger audiences and users in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, focusing on personal and mobile-friendly viewing experiences.

🔗 Source: Chai Shots

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ India’s regional OTT market is a high-growth opportunity backed by demographic shifts

Chai Bisket’s strategic focus on regional microdramas taps into India’s explosive growth in localized content consumption, which now constitutes nearly 30% of total streaming viewership 1.

This approach aligns perfectly with India’s digital demographics. The country has 806 million internet users, with 96% accessing content via mobile devices, creating massive demand for mobile-optimized entertainment 2.

The timing is particularly strategic as India’s OTT market is projected to reach ₹345,000 crore ($41 billion) by 2028, with a user base of 547 million by 2024, showing the enormous scale of the opportunity 3.

By targeting Gen Z in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with Telugu content before expanding to other languages, Chai Shots is positioning itself at the intersection of two powerful trends: youth-driven consumption and regional content preference.

Chai Bisket’s decade of experience in regional content gives them a significant advantage in understanding cultural nuances that global players often miss when attempting to create authentic local content.