Chai Bisket rolls out short-series platform Chai Shots, pledges ₹20 crore for creators

Telugu digital entertainment company Chai Bisket has launched Chai Shots, a regional short-series OTT platform built for mobile-first viewing. The platform, which focuses on premium vertical scripted content with episodes under two minutes, aims to create a structured short-form entertainment category for smartphone users.

Chai Shots marks the company’s formal entry into the under-two-minute storytelling format, positioned as content designed for “micro-moments”. It is backed by Info Edge Ventures and General Catalyst.

Creator gateway and ₹20-crore fund announced

At the launch event, the founders introduced two initiatives aimed at accelerating opportunities for creators.

The first is the Creator Gateway, a direct-access pitching portal that removes conventional development bottlenecks. According to the platform, the process will follow a “45-day Pitch-to-Live” timeline from greenlighting to release.

The second announcement is a ₹20-crore Creator Fund, which will be deployed over the next six months to support and collaborate with more than 200 creators in producing original short-series content.

Industry support and investor participation

The launch event included comments from several industry figures. Actor and producer Rana Daggubati said, “Storytelling has always been at the core of what excites me… seeing narrative storytelling adapt to the vertical, short-form medium through Chai Shots is very exciting. Anurag and Sharath are the true disruptors of the Telugu Film Industry. Nobody understands Telugu audiences better.”

Ravi Yelamanchili of Mythri Movie Makers noted, “This is a very cool initiative… Platforms like this build the foundation for the future of our industry. Production houses believe that Chai Shots would be an intermediate platform to find the next bunch of talents.”

Rohit Chennamaneni, Co-founder of Darwinbox, added: “I was a fan of Chai Bisket for a very long time… Really, really happy to be a part of this and be a cheerleader.”

Chai Shots has raised $5 million in seed funding, led by Info Edge Ventures and General Catalyst. Its list of angel investors includes founders of Swiggy, RedBus, PhysicsWallah and Rapido, in addition to actor Rana Daggubati.

In a recorded message, Padma Shri awardee Sanjeev Bikhchandani said, “Short form content is the future and Chai Shot will be front and center of it… Chai Shots is doing a very good job on that.”
General Catalyst investor Rahul Humayun added, “Content is escape… we’re thrilled to back ChaiShots as they build a pan-India content platform and creator ecosystem.”

Phanindra Sama of RedBus commented, “Chai Shots is a great reflection of Telangana Rising… I’m very excited about the way they are building it.”

Rishikesh SR, Co-founder of Rapido, stated, “With dropping attention spans, there needs to be a change in how content is consumed… I wish to see Chai Shots as another unicorn in the entertainment industry.”

Educator Sanjay Appan said, “Chai Shots tells stories that are so relatable from across the country.”

Company leadership outlines vision

Sharath Chandra, Co-founder and CEO of Chai Shots, said, “The world is witnessing a shift… India is ready to lead and start the new era of entertainment. The revolution of mobile entertainment is going to start in Hyderabad with Chai Shots.”

Co-founder and CCO Anurag Reddy noted, “At Chai Shots, we don’t just create content; we create creators… we are launching today with 75+ original shows across genres… and we are committed to releasing two new shows every single week.”

CTO Krishna Mohan added, “At Chai Shots, we are building an amazing product… so that you can find the content you want to watch easily.”

Expansion plans

Chai Shots is launching with a slate of original Telugu content but is expanding into Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali and Assamese. The company aims to build a nationwide catalogue of vertical short-series programming for mobile audiences.