Ex-Dyson India MD Ankit Jain's Foundry lands $1.4M pre-seed for premium kitchen appliances

Ankit Jain, the former managing director of Dyson India, has launched Foundry, a consumer technology company focused on premium home appliances. The venture is starting with $1.4M in pre-seed funding, co-led by BEENEXT and Kettleborough VC.

The round also drew participation from a group of individual investors: Rishubh Satiya of Plix, Anindita Sampath of Yoga Bar, and Anita Pramoda of Owned Outcomes.

Foundry is building its appliances around proprietary, patent-pending technology, and its first product range is aimed at the kitchen. According to the company, the fresh capital will be directed at technology development and product engineering as it works toward launching that initial range of kitchen appliances in the second half of 2027.

Beyond the launch lineup, Foundry says it aims to develop appliances that pair proprietary technology with industrial design and materials suited to modern homes. It also plans to expand into categories outside the kitchen, though the company has not specified which ones or on what timeline.

Jain's move into hardware follows a stint running Dyson's India business, giving the new venture a founder whose background sits squarely in the premium appliance segment Foundry is targeting. That positioning puts the company up against established global appliance makers as well as a growing field of Indian consumer hardware startups, where premium pricing depends heavily on design differentiation and proprietary engineering rather than scale alone — the two areas Foundry says it is spending its pre-seed money on.

The pre-seed comes alongside the company's public launch, and it lands well ahead of any commercial shipment: with the first kitchen range pencilled in for the second half of 2027, Foundry will spend the intervening period on engineering and product development rather than distribution or marketing.

BEENEXT and Kettleborough VC co-led the round, with the angel cheques coming from founders and operators across consumer brands.