2/1/2016 Mike Koon, College of Engineering
Bryan Wilcox (PhD '11).
Written by Mike Koon, College of Engineering
Thanks to the work of the food tech startup Tovala, kitchens across the country are closer to an appliance that promises individual, gourmet meals in less than 30 minutes.
Tuesday, Tovala announced $500,000 in seed funding from Midwest investors led by Origin Ventures with participation from Valor Equity, New Stack Ventures and a series of strategic angel investors, including Mark Tebbe, Patrick Cadariu, Craig Wortmann, and Michael Staenberg. Previous investors include the Pritzker Venture Capital Group and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Tovala is perhaps the most visible result to date of the partnership between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Last spring Tovala, under the name Maestro, earned the University of Chicago’s annual New Venture Challenge first prize. Its founder, David Rabie, was finishing an MBA from Chicago and dubbed his fledgling creation “a Keurig meets crockpot.”
He and co-founder Bryan Wilcox began work on what is now Tovala. Wilcox, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, completed his PhD in mechanical science and engineering from Illinois in 2011 and started the Urbana-based The Product Manufactory in 2012, where he continues to serve as President.