Pani Raises $2.3M in Seed Funding to Bring Its ‘Keurig for Water’ to Market

After a month of building water wells in a small village in Nepal, Allen Tsai developed a new level of appreciation for water.

When he returned home to Austin, he launched Pani — the Hindi word for “water” — with the goal of personalizing water with flavors and nutritional supplements.

“No one has really thought about how to make the drinking water experience better,” he said. “That’s what we want to do: reimagine the drinking water experience.”

The company’s hallmark product is the Pani Source, which Tsai said is the world’s first tech-enabled “water personalization product” that not only filters chlorine, lead and pesticides from the water, but also “remineralizes ” the water with magnesium, calcium and potassium.

Some investors have called it the “Keurig for water,” Tsai said, because it enhances water with naturally formulated pods that add electrolytes and B12 after a workout, for example, or melatonin and chamomile before bedtime.

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Other pod options include probiotics for gut health, CBD for inflammation and collagen for joint health. 

The device has three pod chambers, allowing users to complement nutritional supplements with flavor pods, like pomegranate, lemon and sweet tea. 

If the product takes off as Tsai expects, he envisions third-party companies offering their own pods for the Pani Source, similar to the way Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts make Keurig pods.

Unlike other pods made of single-use plastic, Pani’s pods are made with recyclable and compostable materials that can deliver 10 to 30 servings.

The Pani Source can also dispense hot water at precise temperatures, making it convenient for brewing coffee and tea.

The smart Pani Source device tracks the condition of the filter and reminds users when the filter needs to be changed. A mobile app syncs with the device, allowing users to monitor water quality, track pod usage and re-order infusion pods.

Backed by Austin Tech A-Listers

Pani has already attracted attention in the consumer packaged goods industry.

Tsai said he has heard from large filtration companies, consumer packaged goods conglomerates and appliance companies that were interested in acquiring, funding or partnering with Pani.

Although those offers are tempting, Tsai turned down an early paycheck to see his idea come to fruition.

“We think this could be a billion-dollar opportunity if we do this thing right,” he said. “We’re going to take this thing all the way.”

Pani announced Friday that it has raised $2.3 million in an oversubscribed seed round, bringing the company’s total fundraising to $3.5 million.

The funding will be used to turn the prototype into a product that’s ready for manufacturing.

Tsai, who has lived in Austin for eight years, accepted investment from prominent Austin figures such as Blake Chandlee, president of global business solutions at TikTok; Clayton Christopher, founder of Deep Eddy Vodka and Sweet Leaf Tea; Silicon Labs founder Nav Sooch; Silicon Labs CTO Daniel Cooley; Brett Hurt, co-founder of data.world and Bazaarvoice; and Capital Factory founder Josh Baer.

Building the Team

One of Pani’s advisors is Bob McCall, a former vice president of research and development at Keurig.

McCall is one of three former Keurig employees on Pani’s leadership team. Rick Cafaro, the company’s vice president of engineering, previously worked at Keurig and DrinkWorks. Patricia Carulli-Hauser, its VP of beverages and enhancers R&D, worked at Pepsi, Kraft and Keurig.

“Between Rick, Patty and Bob, all three of them have had a massive hand in turning Keurig Dr. Pepper into the $20 billion behemoth it is today,” he said.

Tsai, who has held leadership roles at Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, comes from an electrical engineering background and eventually moved to the business side. He has spent more than 20 years building consumer electronics products — everything from chips to software to mobile applications and the cloud. 

Pani is his sixth startup. In the next year, Tsai expects to hire a packaging engineer and a lab technician.

As Pani grows, Tsai said it is important to him to continue to fund clean water projects in Nepal, India, Kenya and other places in the world without potable water.