HelloFresh, the subscription service that sends users a recipe and the needed fresh ingredients so that they can get busy in the kitchen, has announced that it’s raised a new round of funding from Vorwerk Ventures, along with original backers, the Samwer brothers’ Rocket Internet, Holtzbrinck Ventures and Kinnevik. The amount is only being disclosed as a “high seven figure sum”, though TechCrunch has learned that the figure is in actual fact $10 million (~€8m).
The additional capital is said to be used to fuel growth of its core business in the online grocery market where it currently operates in Germany, Netherlands, UK, France, Australia and the U.S., and claims to be the leader in what is still a very nascent market.
Founded in December 2011 by Jessica Nilsson, Thomas Griesel and Dominik Richter, HelloFresh provides a subscription service in which customers receive a weekly box of “inspiring recipes and all matching, pre-measured ingredients”. The idea is to make it more convenient to have a balanced and healthy meal at home, with the company doing most of the heavy lifting, except for the cooking itself, of course. There is no minimum subscription and the weekly service can be canceled at 4 to 8 days notice, depending on country. It even claims to offer “free” delivery, too.
HelloFresh says that it has “more than” 100 employees working out of its Berlin headquarters and international offices, while in Germany the startup recently delivered its 1 millionth meal.
Meanwhile, Dominik Richter, founder and CEO of HelloFresh, is talking up Vorwerk Ventures as an investment partner. “We are convinced that we will massively benefit from Vorwerk Ventures’ expertise in direct sales and social commerce”, he says in a canned statement.