Toronto-based Chefs Plate, a meal kit delivery company, has announced $10 million in a Series C led by Acton Capital, Emil Capital, InvestEco Capital, and Comerica Bank.
The company plans to use the funding to invest in its technology, hiring, automation of the company’s centres in Toronto and Vancouver, and supporting its supply chain.
“Canadians love the convenience meal kits offer and we’re proud to be Canada’s number one choice. Our customer numbers have grown over 200 percent over the past year and this month we’ll deliver three times more meals than we did this time last year,” said Jamie Shea, co-founder of Chefs Plate. “We make cooking easy and look forward to using the newly raised funds to meet the needs of our growing customer base.”
Toronto-headquartered Chefs Plate is also celebrating milestones of delivering 450,000 meals per month, and raising a total of $20 million in funding since it launched in November 2014.
The company’s expansion into Quebec and the Maritimes have made it the only national meal kit delivery service in the region; with 300 people on the platform, the company said it’s seen a 300 percent increase in its workforce in the last year. In September 2016, the company raised $6 million.
“We invested in Chefs Plate because of its long-term strategy on making proper investments to scale the business in tandem with demand,” said Hannes Blum, VP at Acton Capital. “We like the fact that Chefs Plate is creating a strong value proposition through focusing on delicious recipes, quality ingredients, continuous innovation and a convenient service. This strategic approach results in high customer retention and reduces the need for continuous discounting to retain customers.”
Chefs Plate’s has partnerships with companies like Starbucks, celebrity chef Vikram Vij, and Stella Artois.