,Plattershare co-founders Shilpa Jain and Ankush Dhiman belong to the breed of diners for whom adventure means trying out an experimental ingredient every week and sharing their food means painstakingly dictating recipes passed on through generations. So when the former corporate colleagues decided to start a business of their own, the obvious choice was the food and beverages sector. The duo worked on the concept of a food networking website over three years, launching Plattershare in October 2013 with ₹6 lakh of their own funds and loans from family.

The site, still in the beta stage, is meant to serve as a digital meeting place for foodies and food professionals, where they can reach out to others, look up recipes, join cooking classes and establish businesses as home cooks. The site is free, though the duo will monetise the project by charging advertisers and restaurants a fee and setting up e-stores and bazaars for cooks. “There is a gap for need-based networking when it comes to food. There is nothing that is dedicated solely to collaborating on dishes,” says Dhiman. The duo is trying to crowdsource investments to fund the site’s development, the chief step being to add video streaming so that the food looks as good on screen as it does on your plate.