KOCHI: Malayali Rakesh Edavalath, co-founder Saakshi Jain and team, who developed, Zelish, a smart kitchen assistant application, are on cloud nine. The Bengaluru-based start-up was recently acquired by Tinychef, a famous Canadian-based company, whose cofounder is celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor.
Zelish was created due to the need for a kitchen helper in many busy households. “Deciding what to cook is a real headache if both husband and wife are employed. That’s where the idea of Zelish, a kitchen helper, came from,” said Rakesh. Following the acquisition, Rakesh has become the Chief Product Officer of Tinychef.
Kitchen helper
While installing the app, it asks some basic questions. After understanding the user’s diet plan and eating habits, the app will tell you what food to make each day. It also has detailed cooking videos of the recipes that it gives you. It also alerts about the food items that cause allergies. The app uses artificial intelligence to keep up to date records of user’s kitchen. The company also has home delivery service in five major cities in India.
An inspiration
The success of Rakesh and his team has given impetus to Kerala’s efforts to create young entrepreneurs through start-up companies. His journey is an inspiration for many techies, who quit their jobs at big companies to start their ventures. Rakesh, a graduate from the Engineering College, Thiruvananthapuram, joined a company soon after finishing his degree. In 2015, when he was the vice-president at Goldman Sachs, he quit his high-paying job and joined the start-up world.
Awards
Zelish is no stranger to fame. It bagged the Google Play Editors Choice award for the best upcoming app and also won the 2021 Bosch Siemens Home Startup Award.
Tinychef
Tinychef is a recipe app used by over a million users. After the acquisition of Zelish, the app will add more features, like menu planning and shopping.