Who is Ankit Jain? Former Dyson India MD's startup Foundry raises ₹12 crore in a pre-seed funding round

Foundry, a premium home appliance startup founded by former Dyson India managing director Ankit Jain, has raised ₹12 crore in a pre-seed funding round.

The round, co-led by BEENEXT and Kettleborough VC, also saw participation from Rishubh Satiya of Plix, Anindita Sampath of Yoga Bar, and Anita Pramoda of Owned Outcomes, Entrackr reported.

In a press release, the company said the proceeds would support technology development and product engineering as it prepares to launch its first range of kitchen appliances in the second half of 2027. Its products will combine in-house, patent-pending technology with industrial design and materials intended for modern homes. The company also plans to enter appliance categories beyond the kitchen.

Speaking about Foundry's launch, Jain said, "I've spent years working at the intersection of technology and consumer products. One thing I've come to believe is that the next leap in appliances won't come simply from making individual machines better. It will come from rethinking how they are engineered, how they work together, and how intelligence can make them more useful over time. That's the approach we're taking at Foundry. We're investing in the technology from the ground up, with the ambition of creating a fundamentally different experience with everyday appliances."

Foundry marks Jain's move into entrepreneurship after his tenure at Dyson India.

Jain joined Nestle in 2005 and worked there until 2007. He then joined Walmart, working across India and Asia for six years. In 2014, he joined 21st Century Fox as an assistant vice president and remained in that role until the end of 2016.

In 2017, Jain joined Dyson as head of finance for the rest of Asia. Between 2018 and 2021, he worked as the company's general manager for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. He became Dyson India's managing director in 2021 and continued in that role until 2025. From November 2025 to February 2026, he served as Dyson's managing director for the Middle East and Africa.

In March this year, he founded Foundry. According to his LinkedIn bio, Jain is building a technology- and design-led consumer appliances company aimed at rethinking how people interact with the products they use. With more than two decades of experience in scaling businesses, including nine years at Dyson, where he led the company's growth across Asia, he is now focused on building Foundry from the ground up. His vision is to challenge established assumptions in the consumer appliances industry by combining technology with a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour.