Making Homes Smarter Founded in 2023 by Gazal Kalra and Shalabh Gupta, Nuuk offers design-first home appliances including fans, vacuum cleaners, and personal hand fans.
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Building for India, a country with unique needs and a diverse consumer base, is a challenge and requires a new approach. A decade ago, Gazal Kalra and Shalabh Gupta found a common ground: India needed products that were functional, affordable, and thoughtfully designed. The conviction led to the birth of Nuuk.
Nuuk, which has raised USD 10 million in funding, offers a range of home appliances, including fans, vacuum cleaners, and a personal hand fan, all designed with a "design-first, function-always" approach. Its products are tailored for millennials and Gen Z consumers, focusing on performance and user-friendly designs. Its products are present in more than two lakh homes.
"When I was at Stanford Design School, I worked with a cross-disciplinary group on global design challenges and noticed that much of that thinking was concentrated on the top 10% of the world. At the same time, Shalabh was deeply curious about how design principles could be applied and scaled in India, where daily frictions and consumer contexts were very different," recalled Kalra.
"Those complementary instincts shaped our conviction that India needs products that are functional, affordable, and thoughtfully designed. As consumer behaviour evolved from cost-sensitive to value-conscious, the timing felt right to translate that conviction into Nuuk."
For the duo, creativity is at the heart of their venture but begins with deep observations of people's everyday lives, learning about their pain points, real-life applications and use cases, and needs that have largely remained unaddressed.
"That mindset, of letting real life guide design, has been central to every breakthrough," Gupta said.
The founders also stress the need for grounding everything in insights.
"Our very first hire was a consumer researcher from industries like automotive and mobile, where investments in insights are far more advanced. We spend time across demographics and life stages—young professionals and families—not just asking what they buy but observing how they live.
That is how features like the BFF's protective mesh emerged. It's also why REN PRO's suction was calibrated for India's dust conditions. The principle is simple: design around real contexts and lived experiences," Gupta said.
Nuuk, according to its founders, remains a digital-first brand and enjoys a strong footprint on platforms like Amazon, Blinkit, and Instamart. In the near future, the company plans to further expand on the product portfolio within home appliances and continue to invest in innovation that is rooted in consumer empathy, Kalra said.
Alongside this, the company also aims to strengthen the made-in-India supply chain to support scale and efficiency.
Facts:
- Total External Funding Received: USD 10 Mn
- Current Team Size: 50
- Year of Inception: 2023
- Target Audience: Millennials and Gen Z
