FROM INNOVATION LAB MENTEE TO INDUSTRY SUCCESS

When Aleph Hospitality launched its Innovation Lab, it aimed to nurture entrepreneurs with bold ideas that could redefine the future of hospitality. One of its first mentees, Burnt – founded by Joseph Jacob (JJ), Rhea Karimpanal, and Chandru Shanmugasundaram – has since become a shining example of how mentorship, grit, and vision can turn an early concept into a transformative global business.

We caught up with the Burnt founders to reflect on their journey since “graduating” from the Innovation Lab. Their story is one of reinvention, persistence, and an unwavering commitment to solving one of the most overlooked challenges in the food industry: the inefficiency of supply chains.

In 2023, Burnt joined Aleph Hospitality’s Innovation Lab. During the programme, the team was encouraged to participate in the Future Hospitality Summit’s startup pitching event in Dubai – an experience that proved to be a pivotal moment in Burnt’s journey.

“The Innovation Lab was a wonderful experience that really helped us sharpen our vision,” recalls JJ. “But towards the end of it, we realised that the potential for Burnt could be much bigger than we initially thought.”

That realisation inspired a bold move. Recognising the scale of opportunity in the world’s largest tech market, JJ and Rhea relocated to New York City to immerse themselves in the US restaurant ecosystem. There, they spent their days meeting restaurateurs face-to-face, walking countless miles, and engaging in candid conversations with chefs, owners, and suppliers.

“Looking back, that was our discovery phase,” JJ reflects. “We learned more from those conversations than any report or study ever could.”

After months of pounding the pavement – getting lucky with a few restaurant owners while being politely (and sometimes not-so-politely) shooed out by many others – the Burnt team came to a humbling realisation: the problem they thought they were solving wasn’t really a problem at all.

“What we discovered was eye-opening,” says Rhea. “Chefs didn’t want more tech cluttering the back of house – that space is sacred. For the most part, they just didn’t care, they wanted to spend their time doing what they love most: creating incredible food, not managing digital systems.” This insight marked a turning point. The team began to look beyond restaurants and deeper into the supply chain where inefficiencies were slowing down an entire industry. Through months of conversations with suppliers, distributors, and producers, and by reflecting on JJ’s own career in food operations, a new opportunity began to emerge.

They realised that the most significant pain points lay further up the supply chain in the manual, repetitive workflows that bog down suppliers every day. And so, Burnt pivoted with a clear mission: to build AI agents for the food supply chain: intelligent systems designed to automate the tedious operational work that keeps the industry running, so humans can focus on what they do best.

In December 2024, the team developed what is now their flagship product: an agentic AI platform built for the food supply chain. Named Ozai, Burnt’s AI agent integrates directly into existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems used by food distributors and suppliers. Instead of forcing companies to adopt a new platform, Ozai works within what they already use, automating up to 80% of order processing from channels like email, WhatsApp, PDFs, and even faxes.

The technology reflects Burnt’s core philosophy: automation without disruption. By meeting suppliers where they are, the company enables digital transformation in an industry often resistant to it.

In early 2025, Burnt launched commercially and the impact was immediate. Within months, the platform was processing over USD 10 million in monthly orders across seafood, specialty goods, and packaged food distributors. “Our growth has been entirely product-led,” says Rhea. “We didn’t have big budgets for marketing. Instead, every pilot became a case study. We focused on proving ROI for our customers, showing them that automation could be both seamless and transformative.”

That approach worked. Burnt’s early customers reported 96% automation of their order workflows and an ROI exceeding 12 times the cost of the platform.

By combining deep industry knowledge – all three founders have worked within food and hospitality operations – with cutting-edge AI capability, Burnt earned trust in a sector where relationships and reliability are everything. “The combination of insider experience and technical expertise has allowed us to reimagine how the food supply chain runs,” adds Rhea.

The hard work and persistence paid off. In July 2025, Burnt raised USD 3.8 million in seed funding led by Penny Jar Capital, with participation from Scribble Ventures, Formation VC, and angel investors including Dan Scheinman. Burnt was also accepted into Y Combinator, the world’s most renowned startup accelerator, a milestone that further validated the company’s vision and momentum.

From the earliest days at Aleph Hospitality’s Innovation Lab, Burnt stood out for its curiosity, grit, and execution. For Aleph, watching Burnt’s transformation from a bold concept to an industry-changing technology company has been deeply rewarding.

Their journey underscores a timeless truth: long-term B2B success comes from solving real problems, proving measurable impact, and building credibility through strong leadership and aligned investors.

At its core, Burnt represents what the Innovation Lab set out to achieve, a startup that doesn’t just innovate for innovation’s sake, but one that creates tangible change in a sector that feeds the world.

FROM INNOVATION LAB MENTEE TO INDUSTRY SUCCESS

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