The Orange Chef recently closed a $1.2 million round led by Google Ventures, and its new iPad-connected food scale, the Prep Pad, is about to hit the market. The San Francisco startup is well on its way to establishing its technology bona fides in the quantified kitchen. It may surprise you then to learn that the Orange Chef was never supposed to be a tech company.

When Santiago Merea founded the startup in 2011, he intended it to be kitchen accessories outfit — more Martha Stewart Living than internet of things. He was watching his wife cook from a recipe on her iPad, and to protect the tablet from spattering grease and flying garlic bits she covered it in a Ziplock bag. That’s where Merea got the idea for the Chef’s Sleeve, a form-fitting envelope that protects your iPad even as you pinch and scroll your way through…