Up⤴️ is making investments towards hardware, software, and cloud tech to bring innovation to the Indian consumer technology space
A smart consumer technology startup called Up⤴️ (previously React Labs) recently secured pre-seed funding of $800,000. Led by Tim Draper (from Draper Associates), the funding round also saw investment from Tarun Mehta & Swapnil Jain (co-founders of Ather Energy), Gaurav Munjal & Roman Saini (co-founders of Unacademy) and Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India, among others.
Interestingly, Up⤴️ is the first company in India to use an emoji as a part of its identity. Up⤴️ has been recently shortlisted for Qualcomm’s 2022-23 accelerator program through the Qualcomm Design in India Challenge (QDIC). Through QDIC, the startup will technically collaborate with Qualcomm to strive forward in the smart connected consumer technology space in India.
Co-Founder & CEO of Up⤴️, Mahek Mody (ex-Chief of Staff at Ather Energy) stated: “We are very excited to have Draper Associates and what they stand for on board. Their mission statement -“Taking long odds on extraordinary outcomes” is exactly what Mohit and I are doing at Up⤴️. Smart TVs and Phones are only the tip of the iceberg of connected tech that will revolutionise Indian homes. We are making investments towards hardware, software, and cloud technology to deliver superpowers to Indian homes via our connected up⤴️liances. We developed DelishUp⤴️ and the connected platform within a year, leveraging our years of hardware and F&B experience. We are eager to build more and better, towards extraordinary outcomes.”
Co-Founder & CEO of Ather Energy, Tarun Mehta commented: “India is giving rise to more hardware startups, across sectors and industries and is great to see engineering talent and experience building innovative products and addressing new challenges. Smart connected technology for homes has been overdue and I am excited to join Up⤴️ on their journey to building great products for Indian homes.”
Started by IIT Bombay alumni Mahek Mody and Mohit Sharma, Up⤴️ builds home appliances and aims to enable people to Level Up their lives through innovative products that will transform the mundane into something special. Its first smart up⤴️liance, DelishUp⤴️ has been tested in Indian homes and will begin deliveries next month.
Draper claims to be an early investor in breakthrough products like Tesla, Angelist, Coinbase, Switch, Skype and Hotmail. Their portfolio contains over 100 category shaping products.
