D2C Cookware Brand Ember Raises $3.2 Mn

D2C cookware brand Ember has secured $3.2 Mn (INR 28.3 Cr) in its seed fund rounding from high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), family offices, and angel investors like Yoga Bar cofounder Suhasini Sampath and Salarpuria Group MD Apurva Salarpuria.

As part of the round, celebrity chef Saransh Goila joined Ember as its partner and investor.

Commenting on the fundraise, Ember cofounder Himanshi Tandon told Inc42, “We plan to double down on our research and development (R&D). While we have had access to global technologies, we also want to develop our own technologies. For this, we are setting up an innovation lab along with Saransh.”

Tandon said that the startup is considering setting up the innovation lab in Mumbai. It will focus on consumer and product research and carry out product testing. 

To expand its distribution, Ember is also looking to use a part of the freshly raised capital for marketing, she added.

Founded in 2024 by Tandon, Siddharth Gadodia and Bret Recor, Ember is a modern cookware brand that claims to have developed its own proprietary coating called ‘Arcilla’ ceramic coating. Its products are manufactured by its partners in Italy. 

“The arcilla ceramic coating is one of the latest ceramic technologies improvised for India. We manufacture the products in Italy because the thermoclad technology, which increases the non-stick performance and holds the durability of the coating, is currently not available in India,” Tandon said.

Ember was one of the portfolio labels of D2C consumer goods startup Palette Brands at its launch. Tandon said that Ember was carved out from Palette Brands in April this year.

Palette Brands has two portfolio brands currently – mobile cases and screen protection glass brand Totem and sustainable water bottle brand Unbottle.

Palette Brands raised close to $2 Mn from Rockstud Capital, Inflection Point Ventures and Dholakia Ventures, among others, in June last year, to roll out Ember.

Ember is currently based in Bengaluru with a team of 20 employees. Currently, it sells its products via its website and ecommerce platform Amazon. Recently, it also began selling on quick commerce platform Swiggy Instamart across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Tandon claimed that the cookware brand served more than 20K customers as of August.

Ember competes with the likes of Wonderchef, The Indus Valley, among others in the kitchenware market.