Etsy of Food: London-based HomeCooks Raises $3.1M for Nationwide Expansion
In the wake of the UK’s growing affinity for food services like Gousto, often hailed as the Netflix of food, HomeCooks emerges as the Etsy of food, marking a paradigm shift in the culinary landscape. The pioneering marketplace for independent food creators recently secured a $3.1 million Seed round, fueling its ambitious expansion across the UK.
Driving Forces Behind the Funding Round
Led by Speedinvest and featuring contributions from DFF (including Just Eat Founder Lauren Groenendijk), Love Ventures, Rianta, and prominent UK angels from the Ventures Together Consortium, the funding round showcases the strong backing for HomeCooks.
HomeCooks: A Unique Marketplace
Distinguishing itself as the largest marketplace of its kind in the UK, HomeCooks goes beyond merely connecting chefs and users. The platform actively manages partner chefs’ operations, handling the collection, freezing, storage, and dispatch of their pre-prepped meals. Independent food creators prepare meals in batches, which HomeCooks freezes, stores, and distributes on their behalf. This approach provides end-users with access to a diverse selection of over 200 home-cooked meals, offering both affordability and a healthier alternative to traditional ready-made options.
Addressing Industry Challenges
Founder Joshua Magidson, with a background in the food and food tech industry, aims to revolutionize the broken hospitality and food delivery sector. Focused on rebuilding the industry, HomeCooks shifts the narrative by providing chefs with a profitable and flexible platform. Magidson emphasizes the platform’s appeal for chefs, allowing them to concentrate on cooking pre-prepared meals with minimal overheads, making HomeCooks one of the most lucrative ventures in the industry.
A Journey from Grassroots to Tech Innovation
HomeCooks traces its roots to a grassroots community movement on Facebook during the 2020 lockdown, supporting hundreds of furloughed chefs. The platform’s minimum viable product (MVP) attracted notable angels, including Leonard Picardo from the Deliveroo founding team. Since then, HomeCooks has developed its tech, expanded its offerings, and served over 60,000 meals to more than 7,000 customers in the past year alone.
Future Growth and Mission
Funds from the recent round will propel HomeCooks to continue its rapid growth, aiming to facilitate over 1000 food creators to sell their culinary creations on the platform. Founder Magidson expresses the mission to “change the way people eat forever,” envisioning a transformative impact on home dining habits.
Endorsement from Investors
Mathias Ockenfels, General Partner at Speedinvest, commends HomeCooks’ mission and potential to revolutionize the food industry. He highlights the platform as more than just a marketplace, offering streamlined processes for chefs and delivering a diverse range of high-quality, affordable, and healthy meals to consumers. Speedinvest is excited to be part of HomeCooks’ journey and its vision to transform how people eat at home.
