Allen Tsai is an skilled entrepreneur with many connections within the startup world. Nevertheless, he nonetheless encountered difficulties in acquiring seed funding for his newest enterprise enterprise Pani Techniques Inc., which is growing a tool to filter and add nutritional vitamins to faucet water. His main problem in elevating capital is that Pani is breaking into client {hardware}, a extremely aggressive market. Fortuitously for Tsai, he was in a position to persuade enterprise and philanthropic chief Brian Sheth and others to spend money on his new firm.
Background
Tsai acquired the thought for Pani when he helped to put in a water pipeline in 2018 that delivers clear water to rural areas to Nepal. After finishing this mission, he contacted his good friend Blake Chandlee, president of worldwide enterprise options for TikTok/ByteDance. Tsai and Chandlee developed the idea for Pani on the again of a serviette whereas having espresso.
Chandlee additionally made the primary main funding within the firm and started bringing in different traders. He had beforehand invested in Tastebud, which Tsai co-founded and served as vice chairman of product. This firm created a cell app that allowed eating places to regulate costs in actual time primarily based on a wide range of elements such because the time of day. Cerberus Interactive, an Austin-based sport growth studio, acquired Tastebud in 2019 for an undisclosed quantity.
Staffing
Pani at present has 5 full-time workers in addition to plenty of contractors, relying on the corporate’s present wants. Rick Cafaro and Pattie Carulli-Hauser are two of the latest additions to Pani’s employees, serving as vice chairman of engineering and vice chairman of beverage growth respectively. Cafaro was beforehand the vice chairman of engineering for Drinkworks, which developed an at-home cocktail machine. Carulli-Hauser was beforehand an government for Martin Bauer Group, a producer of premium tea and different botanical merchandise.
Pani Supply
Pani Supply is a countertop gadget that filters faucet water and infuses it with nutritional vitamins and minerals. It additionally measures water high quality in actual time with a built-in monitor. As well as, Pani Supply has a removable chamber that buyers fill with water from the tap, though Tsai expects future variations to attach on to the faucet. He additionally needs to combine Pani Supply with extra good units.
As well as, Tsai is addressing sustainability considerations that critics have raised with related units from Curie and Nespresso. These units use single-use pods, producing extreme waste. As compared, Pani Supply pods may be reused. Tsai has acknowledged that sustainability is certainly one of his firm’s core values, which is why the pods themselves are product of sustainable supplies. He’s additionally submitting patents for varied different innovations and methods that can additional enhance Pani Supply.
Funding
Tsai introduced on November 19, 2021 that he had obtained $2.3 million in a seed funding spherical from traders that included the next:
- Brian Sheth, former equities investor and philanthropist
- Blake Chandlee
- Joshua Baer, founding father of Capital Manufacturing facility
- Clayton Christopher, founding father of Deep Eddy Vodka and Candy Leaf Tea
- Brett Damage, founding father of Bazaarvoice and Information.world
- Matthew O’Hayer, founding father of Important Farms
- Nav Sooch, founding father of Silicon Labs
Tsai added that Chandlee was instrumental in securing the assist of those high-profile traders. A lot of the funding on this spherical was from particular person traders.
About Brian Sheth
Brian Sheth is a primary technology Indian–American with intensive enterprise expertise, primarily in non-public fairness investments. Most not too long ago, he helps a wide range of instructional and environmental causes via the Sheth Sangreal Basis. Brian applies the identical systems-driven methods that yielded vital returns for his traders to the philanthropic causes he helps. These methods and his management promote operational excellence in his packages, making a measurable enchancment within the high quality of all life on earth. Brian continues to guard the surroundings by constructing robust ties with enterprise leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and particular person residents.
