Where Is Inirv From Shark Tank Today?

The kitchen can be a truly wonderful place, but let's be real, it can also be a dangerous one. The leading cause of home fires and related injuries according to the National Fire Protection Association is cooking, with stovetop ranges being the origin point for over half of these incidents. With that scary statistic in mind, it's not difficult to see why an entrepreneur would identify this as a pain point.

The company, Inirv, was dreamt up by Akshita Iyer, whose forgetful mother nearly started a fire after leaving the stove on in the kitchen. As a result, Iyer designed a system of self-turning knobs, a sensor that can turn off the stove on its own (if it detects smoke or inactivity), and a smartphone app that lets users turn off their stovetops from afar. The initial concept eventually led to a Kickstarter, then a prototype. To date, the Kickstarter shows funding of over $175,000. But in order to make Inirv one of the best kitchen gadgets you can buy, Iyer turned to the sharks.

Akshita Iyer and her founding partner, Ranjith Babu, appeared on Season 9 Episode 14 of "Shark Tank" to showcase Inirv. The duo asked for a whopping $800,000 investment for just an 8% stake in the company. While the sharks were impressed with the product and interested in the backstory, some of them were worried that Inirv would become obsolete as soon as oven manufacturers implemented such technology directly into their kitchen appliances. Others simply didn't think consumers were concerned enough about their own safety to purchase such a device. Mostly, $800,000 for 8% was just too steep of an ask from a venture that hadn't sold anything yet, let alone created a finished product. Only Robert Herjavec made an offer: $800,000 for 20% equity. Babu and Iyer tried to counter Herjavec's offer, but the shark wasn't interested. Ultimatley, no deal was struck.

"I have a little bit of regret about not taking Robert's deal," Babu told the cameras after walking off the set. "He would have been a great partner for us." And where there's smoke, there's fire as Inirv's situation only got worse from there. In the same year as the company's TV debut, it was sued by its manufacturer for allegedly not providing payment owed. In response, Inirv filed a countersuit blaming its manufacturer for supposedly producing faulty prototypes that Inirv claimed cost it a deal with the sharks. By the end of the year, though, the two businesses reached a settlement, and Inirv resumed raising money.

Inirv had been scorched, but it didn't become one of the biggest Shark Tank food fails. Inirv changed its name to Ome and began selling a finished one-pack product smart knob and smartphone app. So, why the name change? During her episode, Akshita Iyer informed the sharks "Inirv" referred to the medical term "innervate;" this relates to her and Ranjith Babu's professional background, but does not have a strong connection to the core smart kitchen concept of the product. As explained by Iyer on Medium in 2021, they felt the original name didn't properly reflect their vision, which is now to bring "Om" — a Sanskrit symbol for tranquil peace — into customers' homes.

It's possible that the company changed its name to distance itself from the "Shark Tank" fail, as well as the bad publicity from the suit. However, it soon became clear that Ome was determined to find success. Inirv responded to the negative comments on Kickstarter, some of which complained that users still haven't received the product they backed with their own money years later. Further, in her Medium post, Iyer said that she doesn't regret how their "Shark Tank" appearance played out because ultimately they were still growing the product and business. Since the name change, Ome has only continued to grow and is now offering more products than ever.

Ome updated its original product, with the Smart Knob 2.0 — which Ome revealed at the Las Vegas Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in February 2024. According to the KBIS website the knob was showcased on "grill, gas, and electric stove." The newer version now consists of two parts — the knob bottom and the knob top — which makes charging easier because you only have to remove the knob top, rather than the entire thing, to charge. Each charge of the Smart Knob 2.0 lasts about four months, which is double the length of the original variation. The Smart Knob is priced at $129 for one, or you can get a four-pack for $479 (and there are also five and six-packs available). The Smart Knob 2.0 is now available to purchase on the Ome website. You can also still buy the 1.0 in a one-pack, four-pack, or five-pack at discounted prices. 

The company also joined the world of AgeTech, which is a term that refers to technology that helps older adults. Ome announced that it would be bringing the Smart Knob to senior living communities so that older adults can benefit from the safety that the product offers. For senior living communities, Ome also launched Amity, a platform that offers a dashboard that can be used to control all the stoves in one community.

The hard work has paid off in recent years, leading to some award breakthroughs for Akshita Iyer and her company, Ome. To start with, in 2023, Iyer was named one of Exeleon's 100 Most Dynamic Leaders. Speaking to Exeleon, Iyer described how she found her stride as an entrepreneur, stating, "Over time, through trial and error, I've come to understand the significance of having confidence and conveying it through the things I say. I've learned to embrace my strengths, like my knack for storytelling, connecting with others, and nurturing relationships. Confidence, I've learned, has the power to change your game." She also discussed how important it was for her to learn all of the nuances of pitching to investors to raise capital. 

In 2024, Iyer was named one of TechRound's Top 50 Women in Startups & Tech, further cementing the success of Ome. And finally, Ome's Smart Knob was named the Smart Appliance Product of the Year on the list of IoT Breakthrough Winners, which will likely only lead more consumers to pick up one of the Smart Knobs for themselves.