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]
Tovala ovens have a scanner for
barcodes and
QR codes. Its meal kits come with QR codes that program how the ovens cook the meal; the barcode scanner can be used on
packaged goods from
grocery stores.