Consumer hardware startup 'Up' with its smart kitchen appliances making cooking easy for all

Cooking for beginners or amateur cooks isn't always a 'joyful' experience - it involves a lot of work, learning, and even burning to get things right. Bengaluru-based consumer hardware startup Up (legally Up⤴) with its smart appliances is making cooking easy. Co-founded by Mahek Mody and Mohit Sharma, Up believes that connected appliances should exist and they should work like magic. Mahek Mody CEO and co-founder, Up, in an interview with Bizz Buzz, says, "With the delishUp we're building the new-age kitchen assistant. The delishUp comes with step-by-step instructions and recipes, how-to videos, and cooking presets that are perfect for Indian home cooking. The case for home cooking has never been stronger. We had a whole roster of product ideas that we benched, so we could help people stop eating boring food"

Why home appliances? Have the major players missed a trick?

We have both stepped out from the very 'hot' electric vehicle and Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) sectors to find the next big thing and home appliances seemed to be an obvious answer. In the last five years the internet has become ubiquitous in people's homes. During and post-pandemic investments for the home, time spent at home and endearment towards their home has dramatically risen. However, home appliances today do not reflect this and are way past due a transformation.

India has become one of the largest markets for home appliances and is on its way to becoming the largest manufacturer of the same in the world. While the Indian buyer is spending $26 billion annually on these purchases, they are spending on products that were designed for the 1970s.

India today is what Korea and Japan were in the 1950's when Samsung, Sony and LG emerged - redefining the landscape globally. With local demand, local manufacturing, local product development, the next consumer appliances brand will emerge from India.

At Up we have a clear vision towards building consumer "upliances" of the future. The digital core of Up's products is already learning the behaviour and preferences of our users to make them more suitable for their needs. Other major players have made incremental innovation for years towards the digital future, at Up we are fundamentally rethinking appliances in 2023 and designing and developing the products ourselves with strong engineering patents and consumer understanding.

Tell us about the brand Up? What are the products you are introducing in the marketplace?

Up stands for upliances (appliances that level up). Up is feeling empowered, excited, optimistic and understood. All the things people already feel when they are moving into new homes and investing in appliances. We amplify those emotions with products that match.

At Up we believe connected appliances should exist and they should work like magic. The technology exists today, it's just the devices that need to be designed and built. This is the premise that kickstarted the journey for us. The devices we want to build today will define the homes of tomorrow. We are building for young homes which imagine a new way of life. Young homes which want more, do more and get more done.

Kitchen appliances have long been about 'automating' what we are already doing in kitchens, the delishUp, India's first smart cooking assistant, is taking this beyond by actively expanding what you can do in your kitchen and what you want to do. It's 2023, of course, we have automation, but because it is smart we are blurring the lines between cooking Maggi and cooking Pasta or Dal Makhni. We are not solving cooking, we are solving a vexing question in most Indian homes - What should we eat today?

Why did you decide to enter the smart kitchen industry and what differentiates your brand from other market players?

Cooking Dal-Chawal-Roti-Sabzi at home is boring. We saw Indian households exploring cuisines beyond the local. Consumption of food-related media is at an all time high. People are seeing new and interesting food as well as variations on food they are already eating everyday on social media, movies and TV shows. Eating the same food seven times a week is boring. On the other hand, having Pani Puri and Momos at home on a weekday is normal.

With traditional kitchen appliances failing to accommodate for this new and evolved lifestyle, we decided to enter the smart kitchen industry. With the delishUp we're building the new-age kitchen assistant. The delishUp comes with step-by-step instructions and recipes, how-to videos, and cooking presets that are perfect for Indian home cooking. The case for home cooking has never been stronger. We had a whole roster of product ideas that we benched, so we could help people 'stop eating boring food.'

The last big thing that happened to food in India is actually on-demand food delivery - diverse food, bottomless variety, pasta on a Tuesday, all with incredible convenience. However, India's food culture is synonymous with home-cooked meals. In a world of abundance, people are cooking for themselves and their families because they feel it adds value, consistency, health and nutrition in their day to day. Cooking is a means of expressing care and contribution. This is what on demand food delivery fails to deliver and this is what sets us apart. With the delishUp you can make food you want, at home minus the hard work of cooking.

What is your definition of a smart kitchen and what makes you believe it will meet customer expectations?

A smart kitchen for us is where you have answers to all food related questions and requirements.

The kitchen should cater to your needs right from having answers to 'what do I cook today?' and giving you the ability to cook it without having to worry about getting it wrong. It should be a space that equips you with the right skills to make what you want when you want it, this is what we imagine a smart kitchen to be and is the core philosophy for developing the delishUp. We have developed the delishUp with our users, right from what recipes they want us to build to features that our users think will be useful to them, we will continue to learn and adapt to their life with time.

You have recently received funding. How do you plan to utilize the same in the coming months?

We plan to use the funds we have raised to improve the core technology on our product, set up local manufacturing capability at scale, launch our product in Bengaluru, while working towards more upliances.

What are some of the challenges and opportunities you encountered when entering the market?

For most people ordering food on apps has been a compromise, it's great on special occasions, but to rely solely on it has had a detrimental effect on their health and quality of daily life. People want to cook at home, they just need an easy way to do it.

We have been running home trials of the device and have had more than 300 homes use the delishUp - They have been taking the smart cooking assistant home for 4-7 days to see how it integrates into their lives and if it meets their expectations. What we have discovered is how enthusiastic people are about cooking! Especially customers who had cooked nothing except tea all their lives! The delishUp unlocked their superpower to cook. We have had people from across age groups take up cooking because of how simplified the process is and how hassle-free cooking can be.

One of the challenges we encountered when entering the market initially was to convince users that one product can do it all and do it well. With most of our audience, smart kitchen tech was something that they had only read about or seen concepts at tech events/news. They assumed that these products will take at least a decade or more to make it to market. Seeing the delishUp and convincing them to give it a go was a challenge. But from the moment they saw it in action, the rest has been easy.

Since cooking in India is seen as a personal activity done with love and effort, do you think that Indian consumers are ready for a truly 'smart' and 'connected' cooking experience?

At Up we're building smart and connected devices which involve you. When we think about the future of cooking or the future of home at large, our vision is very far away from robots taking over every task and chore you do at home.

Cooking for beginners or amateur cooks isn't always a 'joyful' experience - it involves a lot of work, learning, and even burning to get things right. Young India might not be using recipe books, but they are relying on videos and social media to unlock the power to cook. The whole experience can be fraught with stress, confusion and many hits and misses.

DelishUp users are involved in the process of the food they're making while all the hard work and the stress of cooking is taken out of the equation. While we know that cooking is an intimate experience done with love and care the Indian population is young, and tech savvy. They are eager to try new technologies that can make their lives easy, hassle free and fun.

Where do you see the brand going in the next five years?

Over the next five year we see Up as being the brand for young India. We will continue to build upliances which transform and level up young homes in India and the world. We are most excited about beginning deliveries across Bengaluru in January, 2023.

Is this an imported range of products? Will this be exported from India after manufacturing in India?

Up products are built in India, designed in India - for India and the world. India understands rapid technology adoption the best as the last five years has taught us. Traditional sectors have been shaken by innovative startups and changed the rules of the game. They are changing global standards on quality, manufacturing and customer experience.