Meal-kit companies are continuing to get funding from big food brands, although Blue Apron‘s initial public offering yielded lackluster performance. Indeed, Big Food players haven’t stopped from diving into the $4.6 billion market of food-delivery services. Recently,
- Campbell Soup backed Chef’d with a $10 million investment
- Unilever led a $9 million funding round for Sun Basket.
- Nestlé acquired a minority interest in Freshly, leading a $77 million investment round.
- Kroger recently launched its own meal-kit brand, called Prep+Pared.
As the deals keep flowing, industry watchers warn of a coming shakeout—particularly as Amazon makes its own foray into the space. However, according to a Harris poll, one in four Americans (many of them young) purchased a meal-kit delivery in 2016. With this in mind, it makes the meal-kit industry partly attractive.
Related Links
Meal-kit startup Blue Apron reportedly preparing IPO
German meal-kit company HelloFresh raises $88M
German food startup Delivery Hero to buy Foodpanda
Food-delivery startups are facing a harsh reality
UK-based meal service Deliveroo raises $275M to keep growing
