Ashish Goel (left) and Pranav Chopra, founders, Optimist.Air conditioning company Optimist, launched by Urban Ladder cofounder Ashish Goel, has raised $12 million in a funding round led by Accel and Arkam Ventures.
The round also saw participation from Sparrow Capital and angel investors such as Ather founders Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, as well as Bombay Shaving Company founder Shantanu Deshpande, among others.
The company plans to deploy the capital towards research and development, go-to-market expansion, strengthening its retail service network, and scaling up manufacturing.
“With increasing heat stress, current air conditioners are neither designed for the changing climate nor built with the Indian consumer in mind,” Goel told ET.
Founded in 2024 by Goel and Pranav Chopra, the Gurugram-based consumer brand says that it designs and manufactures air conditioners suited to India’s weather conditions.
According to Goel, the air conditioning market in India is valued at around Rs 55,000-60,000 crore, but penetration remains low at about 8%.
“The two biggest outcomes we have focused on with our AC are delivering high-grade cooling and making it as energy-efficient as possible,” said Goel.
Optimist will sell its products via its direct-to-consumer (D2C) platform and exclusive brand stores. The startup will launch its products next month across Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Telangana and Bengaluru, before expanding to other cities.
“Customers are not buying a product for just this year. Everyone knows it’s getting warmer. So, when a heatwave worse than 2024 hits, we need to be ready with a better product. And that’s what we’re bringing to the market,” he added.
Goel’s previous venture, online furniture retailer Urban Ladder, was acquired by Reliance Industries in 2020. Reliance Retail Ventures had bought a 96% stake in the company for Rs 182 crore in an all-cash deal, which was seen as a distress sale, amid intensifying competition from larger companies such as Amazon and Flipkart, as well as a surge in niche vertical ecommerce rivals.
Commenting on the investment, Prashanth Prakash, partner at Accel, said: “As cooling demand rises alongside climate pressures, efficient and reliable air conditioning will become critical infrastructure.”
“The Optimist team is reimagining how cost effective and efficient cooling can address heat stress impacting hundreds of millions of Indians,” said Bala Srinivasa, managing director at Arkam Ventures.
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