dishq, a Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup, that leverages food science and machine learning to predict people’s taste, announced a pre-seed investment of $400,000. This round has been funded by several investors including, Techstars’ first food/AgTech-focused accelerator called Farm To Fork, and Arts Alliance.

The primary deployment of the investment will be to expand the engineering team, as well as sales and marketing activities.

The company was launched in December 2015 with the mission of helping consumers make better food choices by bringing personalisation technology to the food and beverages industry. Both Founders, Kishan Vasani and Sai Sreenivas Kodur, previously worked at online food ordering industry giants, Just Eat and Zomato respectively. It was this experience and the personal frustration of dissatisfying meals that drove them to tackle this space, said the company official statement.

“Why shouldn’t everything we eat or drink taste delicious? We all know how great we feel when we’ve enjoyed a truly amazing meal, we’re happier, more productive, and we waste less. Our technology essentially brings greater alignment between producers and consumers, and we’re truly honoured and excited to have the backing of such fantastic investors for our vision,” said Vasani, co-founder and CEO at dishq.

dishq has developed, what they call, a ‘food brain’ which can predict both an individual’s food preferences, as well as broader industry trends.

dishq already has customers across six markets for their first product, a B2B personalisation engine, which is currently powering more than 30 million recommendations each month.

“There is no question in my mind that Kishan, Sai and team are building something great here. There is a ton of opportunity in this space and this is the team that will capitalise on it,” said Brett Brohl, managing director at Techstars Farm To Fork.

While the majority of the team is based at the company headquarters in Bengaluru, dishq will also be expanding its presence in London. They have also recently opened an office in Saint Paul, Minnesota, US.