# Rajat Bhageria

> Rajat Bhageria is the founder and CEO of Chef Robotics, a San Francisco-based company building AI-enabled robotic systems for flexible food assembly automation. After founding accessibility tech startup ThirdEye (acquired 2017) and co-founding pre-seed VC fund Prototype Capital, Bhageria launched Chef Robotics in 2019 to tackle the labor crisis in food manufacturing. The company has deployed robots across 12+ facilities in the US, Canada, and Europe, completing over 100 million food servings as of April 2026, backed by $72.7M in total funding. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree (2022), Bhageria is also a published scientist, author, and prolific writer with bylines in Forbes, TechCrunch, and HuffPost.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Chef Robotics
- **Organizations:** Chef Robotics, Prototype Capital, Afore Capital
- **From:** India (grew up in Cincinnati, OH)
- **Nationality:** American (Indian-origin)
- **Education:** B.S. in Economics and Computer Science, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School), M.S. in Robotics and Machine Learning, University of Pennsylvania (GRASP Lab), High School Diploma, Sycamore High School
- **Known for:** Forbes 30 Under 30 (2022) - Manufacturing category, a16z American Dynamism 50 recognition, CAFE 100 - recognized by former US AG Preet Bharara as extraordinary change-maker

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Founded CafeMocha, a creative writing platform, at age 16-17 while in high school
- **2013** — Published a peer-reviewed, first-author scientific paper in glass science with 20+ citations
- **2013** — Published book: 'What High School Didn't Teach Me'
- **2013** — Started at University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School), Economics & Computer Science
- **2015** — Co-founded ThirdEye, a computer vision platform for visually impaired, built at 36-hour hackathon
- **2015** — Co-founded Prototype Capital, a distributed pre-seed venture capital fund
- **2015** — Kleiner Perkins Fellowship at Indiegogo under CEO Slava Rubin
- **2016** — ThirdEye named Top College Startup in Philadelphia; Wharton Business Plan Competition finalist
- **2017** — ThirdEye acquired by TheBlindGuide
- **2017** — Completed M.S. in Robotics and Machine Learning from Penn's GRASP Lab
- **2017-2019** — Venture Product Partner at Afore Capital; interim COO at Maintool
- **2019** — Founded Chef Robotics in San Francisco to automate food assembly
- **2022** — Named Forbes 30 Under 30, Manufacturing category
- **2022-2023** — Made pivotal decision to walk away from fast-casual restaurant clients, pivot to food manufacturing
- **2023** — Chef Robotics raised $11.2M seed round
- **2025** — Chef Robotics raised $43.1M (Series A equity + equipment financing); 140 employees
- **2026** — Chef Robotics surpassed 100 million food servings in production across 12+ facilities

## Achievements

- Forbes 30 Under 30 (2022) - Manufacturing category
- a16z American Dynamism 50 recognition
- CAFE 100 - recognized by former US AG Preet Bharara as extraordinary change-maker
- Forbes 'Fifteen Brightest College Entrepreneurs' recognition
- Forbes 'Top 15 Startups in the Nation'
- Thiel Fellowship (20 Under 20) finalist
- Bay Area 25 Under 25
- Philadelphia's Top College Startup (2016)
- Chef Robotics surpassed 100M servings (April 2026) - more than all food robotics competitors combined
- Published peer-reviewed scientific paper in glass science during high school (20+ citations)
- Published book on education reform while in high school
- Built Prototype Capital portfolio to $2B+ in collective value
- ThirdEye acquired by TheBlindGuide (2017)
- Spoke at conferences including SXSW, Wharton entrepreneurship events

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Chef Robotics unveiled bi-manual physical AI system for prep table food assembly and 'Deposit Assist' feature for waste reduction
- **2026-04** — Chef Robotics surpassed 100 million servings in production - more than all food robotics companies combined
- **2026-04** — TechCrunch featured Chef Robotics as having 'escaped the robot cooking graveyard' with thriving business
- **2026-01** — Appeared on Cognitive Revolution podcast discussing 'A Foundation Model for Food'
- **2026-01** — Chef Robotics announced partnership with Packline Solutions Group for integrated meal production automation
- **2025-03** — Chef Robotics raised $43.1M total (Series A + equipment financing) led by Avataar Ventures

## Links

- Website: https://rajatbhageria.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajatbhageria
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/RajatBhageria
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/chefrobotics/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rajat-bhageria
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-23