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Tinychef: Culinary AI platform turning recipes into conversations

A smart cooking AI platform and app that makes everything about your meals as simple as having a chat

Tinychef co-founders Bahubali Shete (L) & Asha Shete
Tinychef co-founders Bahubali Shete (L) & Asha Shete

A first-of-its-kind, US-based Tinychef started as a voice-first culinary AI platform that helps users in the kitchen with everything from meal planning to grocery shopping and actually cooking their meals— all through an interactive and guided smart cooking experience. Founded in 2017 by Bahubali Shete and Asha Shete, it all began with the duo asking potential customers about the piece of tech their family loves, but they wished they had for their kitchen.

An 80-year-old woman’s earnest response triggered the eureka moment. “I wish I had something like Google Maps in the kitchen,” she said in response, which proved to be the foundation for Tinychef (formerly known as Klovechef). Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor joined as a co-founder in 2018 and contributed his culinary expertise to enhance the platform’s vision. “I have always tried to impact kitchens in India and across the world with simple and healthier recipes and tips that households appreciate,” he adds.

Functional in India since July 2019 on Amazon Alexa, where it has over 1.5 million users, Tinychef is aimed at people who watch cooking videos on YouTube and other social media platforms. It has raised venture capital in six rounds, including an angel round, two pre-seed rounds, two convertible notes and one solitary seed round that took place in November 2020, all adding up to around $2.5 million. In July 2021, TinyChef acquired Zelish, an app – founded by Rakesh Edavalath, Saakshi Jain, and Arpit Joseph – that helps you plan your meals, shop the groceries in one click and cook using over 20,000 recipes.

Says Bahubali Shete, “As a pioneer in voice-first solutions on smart speakers for consumers in the kitchen, adding smartphones was the natural next step for us so that we become truly a ‘device agnostic’ smart kitchen assistant.” The easy-to-use interface of the app makes cooking and eating at home simple, fun, and delicious. Apart from answering the question of what one can eat today, it also simplifies grocery order to minimise wastage and gives access to international recipes from renowned chefs like Ranveer Brar and well-known bloggers like Hebbar’s Kitchen, Ajay Chopra, and Meghna Kamdar, so you aren’t stuck eating the same food over and over again.

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First published on: 27-09-2021 at 01:00 IST
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