The recipe subscription service has seen massive growth recently, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. As per Hexa Research, the global meal kit delivery service segment is expected to reach a value of $8.9 billion by 2025. London-based Gousto is a popular online meal-kit manufacturer and retailer that has been quite successful.
In a recent development, Gousto has picked up $150 million in a fresh funding round. This is a combination of $100 million equity financing from SoftBank and $50 million debt financing from HSBC and Barclays. With this round, the meal-kit manufacturer attains a valuation of $1.7 billion.
Prior to this, Gousto raised £25 million in funding in late 2020 and attained unicorn status. With the latest financing round, the overall investment raised by the company is $361.5 million to date.
Gousto intends to use the fresh funds to launch an automated and AI-driven fulfilment centre near Birmingham. With four additional hubs on its radar, the company will use the funds to increase the overall capacity by 40 percent.
“2022 is set to be another impressive year for Gousto, as we capitalise on the accelerated mega trends driving change in the grocery market: convenience, health, sustainability. This successful raise is further testament to the relevance and appetite for our recipe box solution,” commented founder and CEO Timo Boldt.
Story of Gousto!
Gousto was founded in 2012 by Timo Boldt and James Carter. Both the founders share a passion for cooking and food. However, they did not get ample time to visit the grocery stores and found it tough to cook recipes from online databases or follow TV shows related to cooking. Eventually, they perceived the idea for Gousto.
Now, it is one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK and is disrupting the meal-kit sector. It is also changing the way people shop, cook, and eat food in the comfort of their home. Notably, Gousto is known popularly as ‘Spotify of food’ in the UK. Gousto is endorsed by Joe Wicks, the celebrity fitness coach and Katherine Ryan, a comedian and self-confessed foodie.
How does it work?
The platform provides users with the ingredients in the correct proportion so that they can cook delicious meals at home. Users can choose the recipe they want to try online and updates the recipes every week. It provides consumers with as many as over 60 various recipe box kits that will be delivered to users’ doorsteps.
Gousto uses proprietary algorithms that maximise the speed of pickup, pick accuracy, and daily volumes while minimising food waste and cost.
Deploys AI
Driven by AI, Gousto offers customers a truly best-in-class customer proposition. The company uses AI for personalisation, forecasting and warehouse optimisation. Eventually, it is capable of delivering a better service than its competitors, including Butternut Box, Green Chef, HelloFresh, and others.
It lets them choose from recipes available each week, delivers seven days a week with regular availability of slots in the morning and evening, reduce lead time, and is priced starting from £2.98 per serving. Also, with AI, the company plans to improve various aspects from customer experience to business performance.
