Tovala

Tovala is a meal-kit and oven company based in Chicago, Illinois. It sells a series of smart ovens that combine baking, broiling, air frying, and steam cooking and which can be controlled by an app.

Tovala was co-founded in 2015 by CEO David Rabie and CTO Bryan Wilcox. It won a venture challenge at the University of Chicago.^[2] Initially named Maestro and nicknamed the "Keurig for food," it launched with a Kickstarter in January 2016 that raised $256,000.^[3] That year, it was also accepted into the Y Combinator accelerator program.^[4][1][5]

Tovala launched to the general public in 2017. It also raised a $9.2 million Series A round that year, led by Origin Ventures, and acquired the Chicago-based food-delivery service Radish.^[6][7][8][9] In 2020, the company raised a $20 million Series B round of capital, led by Finistere Ventures and including Comcast Ventures, OurCrowd, Rich Products Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and the University of Chicago.^[10][11] It added a $30 million Series C round in 2021, led by Left Lane Capital.^[12][13] As of 2024, it has raised a total of $68.6 million and employs about 375 people.^[1]

The company has released several generations of its countertop smart ovens, most recently the Tovala Smart Oven and the Tovala Smart Oven Pro, which includes steam cooking.^[14][15] They have ranged in price from $300 to $400, which substantial discounts for customers who also sign up for the company's meal-kit service.^[16]

• Official website