Latest news with #Posha
Mint
20-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Founder of Posha, a kitchen robot that cooks meals, got the startup idea from seeing working mothers
Seeing working mothers juggling between children and the kitchen and young professionals surviving on a junk diet prompted entrepreneur Raghav Gupta to build robot chefs to put home cooking on autopilot. Posha, the company he co-founded, makes countertop kitchen robots that cook your meals. It recently raised $8 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel with participation from existing investors such as Xeed Ventures, Waterbridge Ventures, Binny Bansal, the co-founder of Flipkart, and others. 'Seeing working mothers juggling between kids and the kitchen or young professionals surviving on an unhealthy junk diet of takeouts and food delivery led to the idea of a cooking robot,' says Gupta, Co-founder, Posha. Posha, which means nourishing in Sanskrit, can cook one-pot meals from paneer makhani and pad thai to 500 different recipes of various cuisines for up to four people at a time. It has an induction cooktop with a removable pan that comes with a stirrup and three different kinds of spatulas-noodle, curry and a flipping spatula. 'You can search and/or choose a recipe on the Posha screen, put in freshly chopped and other ingredients in the ingredient containers, tap cook and out comes a delicious meal,' says Gupta, while making spaghetti alfredo with mushrooms on the Posha robot. There are different containers for ingredients, including two for oil and water and a spices rack that can hold and add up to six different spices in a recipe. The robot's several sensors, including a camera, allow you to observe the food being cooked from your phone screen via the Posha App. 'New recipes are added weekly and are grouped by time of day and other criteria. The robot is context aware, not just about time for meal suggestions, but also by cuisine or dietary preferences and categories like dessert, pasta, soup, etc. If I cook a lot of Filipino food, it will show me those recipes,' says Gupta. The device that uses computer vision and AI collects intelligence via usage and cooking history. 'It knows what you cook. In my case, it's showing me a lot of vegetarian dishes because I'm a vegetarian. I get suggestions not only for Indian recipes, but also for pastas and mashed potatoes, because those are what I have previously searched and cooked.' Besides searching for a recipe by name, you can also use the robot to search by pantry-meaning if you have mushrooms and peas, the robot will list recipes that you can cook with those ingredients. The listing starts with the ones that you can cook most easily using the fewest ingredients, followed by more options and rising in complexity. .. 'Posha asks me how many people I want to cook for. When I don't want a simplified recipe with fewer optional ingredients, I can uncheck the simplify option and choose to customise to cook to my liking. It also allows me to select the spice levels- for example, hot, medium and less salt and/or oil,' tells Gupta. 'Besides the basics, Posha allows various customisations, for example, you can select if you want the pasta being cooked to be al dente (firm).' Formerly known as Nymble, the current product originally started out as a robotic arm, but the learnings at the Bosch's accelerator programme prompted the founders to change course. They also learned that consumers didn't want something that moved around their kitchen or that would be hard to clean. 'We have been super focused and obsessed with customers from day one. We don't use Freshdesk or Zendesk to chat with them. We have WhatsApp conversations with over 150 of our customers. I moved to the Bay Area in the middle of the pandemic, just to be close to my customers.' 'We're working on an integration where you'll be able to order the groceries automatically. We were in private beta around December last year. Most of our customers are based in the Bay Area,' says Gupta. With AI models more stable and having developed a support infrastructure outside of the Bay Area, they are expanding to other parts of the US. 'We're currently primarily focused on the US market as the problem is also more acute in this part of the world, because cost of services is super expensive. The intention is to continue to make a very lovable product that people continue to use,' says Gupta. Gupta grew up in Jangpura in New Delhi and spent four years in Bangalore from 2017 to 21 before moving to the US. 'We have a few thousand customers on the waitlist and we are sold out for this year. We'll continue to ship to those customers and we are taking new orders on our site,' says Gupta. The robot price was recently dropped from $1,750 to $1,500. Currently, the machine is being manufactured in China, but the founders are looking to diversify their supply chain. 'We have a supply constraint right now and the political situation with tariffs is not helping. We are trying to ship as fast as we can,' Gupta noted.'There is no concrete plan that we can make right now because of the ongoing volatility in the market. Every time you make a plan, the chances are that some bill gets stuck with some country. We are really playing the wait and watch game.' Feedback from customers has also taught Posha founders that the quality of food reigns supreme and convenience cannot replace the taste and quality parameters when you are in the food business. 'Listening to our customer feedback, we have got our recipe ratings up to roughly 4.6— at par with DoorDash. People continue to request for more recipes and a lot of customisation abilities with the recipes,' Gupta pointed out. On the hardware side, the customer requests are not too many as the founders adopted many initial requests like the machine size to fit under kitchen cabinets; machine and motor reliability; a larger pot size for cooking, dishwasher ease and safety of all containers and a design that can handle spillages with ease.
Entrepreneur
07-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
AI Kitchen Robotics Startup Posha Raises USD 8 Mn Series A Led by Accel
Xeed Ventures, Waterbridge Ventures, and angel investors such as Binny Bansal (co-founder of Flipkart), Asha Jadeja Motwani, and GreyOrange founders Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta also participated in the round. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. AI-powered kitchen robotics startup Posha has raised USD 8 million in a Series A funding round led by Accel, with participation from existing investors including Xeed Ventures, Waterbridge Ventures, and angel investors like Binny Bansal (Flipkart), Asha Jadeja Motwani, and GreyOrange founders Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta. The funds will be used to deepen Posha's AI capabilities, expand its recipe database, and enhance its user interface, as the company aims to revolutionize home-cooking for modern families. Founded in 2016 by Rohin Malhotra and Raghav Gupta, Posha—formerly known as Nymble—offers a fully automated cooking experience through its AI-enabled kitchen robot. Once ingredients are loaded, the robot takes over the entire cooking process, leveraging camera and thermal sensors for real-time monitoring and adapting recipes based on individual preferences. Designed for busy individuals and families, Posha's mission is to make healthy, personalised meals accessible without sacrificing time or taste. Its robot offers over 500 recipes across 10+ global cuisines, encouraging culinary exploration while maintaining the warmth of home-cooked meals. "Our motivation was driven by the need we saw. I grew up in a culture where love was expressed through home-cooked meals," said Raghav Gupta, Co-founder of Posha. "We wanted to create a solution that doesn't force people to sacrifice their professional careers or health for freshly cooked meals." Pratik Agarwal, Partner at Accel, noted, "Posha is tackling a persistent problem in modern households: how to get a healthy, home-cooked meal on the table when time is short. Their AI-driven approach is practical, well-designed, and represents one of the first tangible examples of AI directly addressing a genuine human need in a meaningful way." Currently priced at USD 1,500, Posha's kitchen robot is available for pre-order and includes 50 recipes. Users can also opt for a USD 14.99/month subscription for access to additional recipes, advanced customisation features, and the ability to request new recipes. Shipping is expected to begin later this year. With this fresh funding and growing consumer interest, Posha is positioning itself at the forefront of AI-powered culinary innovation.
Economic Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Kitchen robotics startup Posha raises $8 million from Accel, others
Kitchen robotics startup Posha has raised $8 million in a Series A equity funding round led by venture capital firm Accel. The round also saw participation from existing investors including Xeed Ventures, Waterbridge Ventures, Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal, venture capitalist Asha Jadeja Motwani, and GreyOrange founders Samay Kohli and Akash Gupta. The fresh capital will be used to expand Posha's recipe database, enhance its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and improve the user interface and product availability, its cofounder Raghav Gupta said. Posha—formerly known as Nymble—has developed a countertop kitchen robot that automates the entire cooking process using computer vision, AI, and robotics. Equipped with cameras and thermal sensors, the robot can independently add ingredients, control heat, and adjust spice levels during cooking. Gupta told ET that the product is designed to address a problem increasingly common in urban households: lack of time to prepare fresh meals. 'In developed countries like the US, people try to be self-reliant, and the cost of services like food delivery or hiring a personal chef is super high—it's not as affordable as it is in India,' he explained. The company is currently focused on the US market and has not disclosed timelines for entering the Indian market. The device—priced at $1,500, or about Rs 1.26 lakh, in the US—began shipping in January. Users can opt for a $14.99 monthly subscription to access more recipes and customise meals, including requesting recipes not already available on the platform. It currently supports over 500 recipes across various cuisines and is developing a personalised recommendation system that adapts to individual taste preferences. Posha has a 50-member team, with a significant portion of its research and development operations based in Bengaluru. Robotics startups building for home kitchens remain a niche segment globally, but investor interest in the category has grown in recent years as AI and hardware costs have become more accessible. 'Posha is tackling a persistent problem in modern households: how to get a healthy, home-cooked meal on the table when time is short," said Pratik Agarwal, partner at Accel. "Their AI-driven approach is practical, well-designed, and represents one of the first tangible examples of AI directly addressing a genuine human need in a meaningful way.'
TechCrunch
06-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Meet Posha, a countertop robot that cooks your meals for you
In 2017, Raghav Gupta set out to solve a personal problem: he wanted easy access to the home-cooked meals he grew up eating without having to spend time cooking or spend money on takeout or hiring a private chef. He turned to robotics, which led him to found the startup Posha. Posha, a former TechCrunch Startup Battlefield company, builds countertop robots that make meals using computer vision. Users scroll through a list of recipes, select the one they want, add the proper amounts of the requested ingredients, and the machine makes the meal from there. The process is designed to be customizable and forgiving, Gupta told TechCrunch, so the machine allows people to make substitutions, and Posha still works if a user doesn't measure their ingredients perfectly. 'It's like a coffee machine for food,' Gupta said. 'So when you want to drink a cup of coffee, you choose a brew of coffee on your coffee machine. You put beans, sugar, and milk in different containers. You tap brew, and out comes a cup of coffee. Posha does something similar, but for food.' A coffee machine is a good, but not perfect, comparison to Posha, as Posha requires a bit more labor than a coffee maker. While Posha does a substantial amount of the work by cooking these meals, consumers still play an active role in shopping for ingredients and prepping everything that goes into the device. Chopping, especially, can take up a fair amount of a recipe's cook time. Gupta agreed that some people are just not going to go for a solution that still requires them to do some of the cooking. He said that Posha has found the most success thus far with customers who like to cook two to six times a week anyway, and are looking to lighten the load a few of those evenings. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | BOOK NOW 'These people are already spending an hour in the kitchen every single day, deciding what to eat, shopping for ingredients, cooking a meal, [and] cleaning up afterwards,' Gupta said. 'We help them shave off at least at least 70% of this time, so they now end up spending only about 10 to 20 minutes every single day.' Posha, formerly known as Nymble, originally started out as a robotic arm, Gupta said, but the company's time in Bosch's accelerator program prompted them to change course. They learned consumers didn't want something that moved around their kitchen or that would be hard to clean. The company has kept in close contact with its early customers ever since. 'We have been super focused and super obsessed with customers from day one,' Gupta said. 'We don't use Zendesk to chat with them, we have WhatsApp conversations with over 100 of our customers. Most customers know me personally. I moved to the U.S. in the middle of the pandemic, just to be close to my customers.' That system can't scale, but clearly works for Posha for now. Gupta said that, so far, Posha has mainly relied on word-of-mouth marketing for the $1,750 direct-to-consumer countertop device. Posha recently raised an $8 million Series A round led by Accel with participation from existing investors including Xeed Ventures, Waterbridge Ventures, and Binny Bansal, the co-founder of Flipkart, among others. Gupta said that Posha will use the funding to continue to develop the product. In particular, the company wants to add more recipe options and the ability for people to suggest recipe ideas and have generative AI turn those ideas into instructions and add them into the device quickly. The company launched its Posha robots in January 2025 , and has since sold out of its first batch — and is taking pre-orders for its second. 'If you look at your microwave, your dishwasher, your refrigerator, at some point in time, these devices were countertop devices,' Gupta said. 'They became so indispensable over time in consumer homes that builders started installing these devices in your homes. We feel Posha will have the same fate very soon.'
