In the year In 2016, serial entrepreneur Baahubali Shetty had to pay back the $10,000 he raised from a crowdfunding project for his IoT devices. Scale hardware products.
Shete spoke to consumers to find out what makes their kitchen needs and what makes their cooking experience the best. After talking to several people, it was the 80-year-old woman’s response that stuck with him. “I wish I had something like Google Maps in the kitchen. Ever since my husband learned to use it, he can go anywhere without knowing the way and without taking his hands off the steering wheel,” she told Shete.
People wanted an assistant — a gadget that would help them take their hands and eyes away from recipe books or phones while cooking, but still give them direction, Shete said. CASIA.
In the year Between 2017 and 2018, Shete devoted his time to developing a voice-activated product that tells users how to operate a dish without touching their phones. In the process of building the prototype, Shete realized that it wasn’t enough for a voice assistant to read a recipe aloud. It should have been more interactive. So Shete has an artificial intelligence (AI) that can talk to customers and help solve problems while cooking, such as replacing ingredients in a recipe.
While taking care of the technological aspect, the ability to provide recipes, tips and recipes is still missing. Shete wanted users to trust the recipe recommendations his product offered. For that, he needs the expertise of someone known for his culinary skills. In the year In 2018, he brought in celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor, a co-founder, to help run the company and drive traffic to its offerings.
With all the components in place, in 2019, Shetty created KloveChef, an AI-based voice assistant that guides users in the kitchen through step-by-step recipes on how to make a dish. It also tells users what to cook based on the ingredients they have at home.
“During consumer research, we learned that people often don’t plan their menus and often end up with random ingredients at home. Once a user tells AIH their ingredients, it can come up with a simple recipe for a dish, says Shete, CEO of CloveChef.
The startup has partnered with Amazon and Google to put the CloveChef service in the kitchens of 900,000 users in India by making its recipes available through smart speakers. All of the company’s recipes come from Kapoor’s cookbooks, and CloveChef’s voice works through every home cook’s pace every step of the way.
Shete says KloveChef has 100,000 monthly active users.
“Our AI can perform other tasks, such as setting a timer, making a shopping list and suggesting the amount of ingredients to use based on the number of people you’re cooking for. If you are planning a party and have some food in mind, you can ask our AI what ingredients you should buy.” Shete said.
KloveChef has an eye for keeping home kitchens as well. The company is also in talks with a few other online grocers to complement the shopping lists of users registered with smart speakers in partnership with Amazon. Amazon India recently launched a meal kit service in India, where measured, packaged ingredients are delivered to consumers to simplify meal preparation. “If you want to cook biryani, we ask the user to have the items delivered to them. If they say yes, we place an order on their behalf through Amazon,” said Shete.
These affiliate sales form the main source of income for KloveChef. It also applies to running ads. “If the recipe involves chopping onions, which takes two or three minutes, we can run the ad for a long time. We ensure that these ads are relevant and relevant to users,” Shete said.
The company It will start playing ads in late 2020. It projects six times the conversion rate for brands compared to TV ads.
KloveChef is designed for smart speakers, but the company plans to launch a mobile app in the coming months. Shete said the features will be the same, except that users will have to touch their phones to enable voice input while placing orders.
The company recently raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round from Venture Catalysts. While India is the only market to launch the product, it plans to offer services in Canada, US, UK and Australia.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “Startup Stories” series, where KrASIA writers talk to founders of tech companies in South and Southeast Asia.
