Food-tech startup Dishq raises pre-seed fund from Techstars' accelerator, others

Bengaluru-based personalisation technology firm, Dishq which is aimed to serve the food and beverage industry, has secured $400,000 (Rs 2.7 crore) pre-seed fund from from Techstars’ food and agriculture technology accelerator Farm to Fork and Arts Alliance.

The Syndicate Fund and angel investor Sven Hensen, founder and managing partner of business analytics firm mayato. Existing investors Zeroth, a startup accelerator, and Artesian Venture Partners also participated in this funding round.

According to the company the raised amount will be used to expand its engineering team and to accelerate its sales and marketing activities.

The artificial intelligence startup takes food science and machine learning into help to predict people’s tastes. Dishq claims to have developed what it calls a ‘food brain’ that can predict both an individual’s food preferences as well as broader industry trends.

The startup was launched in December 2015 by Kishan Vasani (chief executive) and Sai Sreenivas Kodur (technology head), who both previously worked at online food ordering ventures Just Eat and Zomato, respectively.

The tech service provider is currently powering more than 30 million recommendations each month. It claims to have its users across six markets for its first product, a business-to-business (B2B) personalisation engine.

“Our technology essentially brings greater alignment between producers and consumers, and we’re truly honoured and excited to have the backing of such fantastic investors for our vision,” Vasani said.