Meal kit delivery service HelloFresh has agreed to acquire Canada-based competitor Chefs Plate, enabling Emil Capital, a corporate venturing vehicle for retail group Tengelmann, to exit.
The deal will involve a combination of cash and shares and values Chefs Plate at “a middle double-digit million Canadian dollar amount,” according to a stock exchange filing cited by Just-Food (C$50m = $38m).
Founded in 2014, Chefs Plate runs a subscription service where users can get fresh food ingredients delivered to their door along with instructions on how to prepare a specialist meal.
The platform offers traditional, quick, vegetarian and family-focused meal options, and will be merged with the Canadian business of Germany-headquartered HelloFresh to create the meal kit service with the largest customer base in the country, the companies said.
Chefs Plate had raised almost $16m in funding, as of a $7.9m series C round in December 2017 that included Emil Capital, financial services provider Comerica Bank, venture capital firm Acton Capital Partners and investment firm InvestEco Capital.
Emil Capital and BrandProject supplied $2m in funding for Chefs Plate in 2015, before joining Acton Capital Partners for a $6m series B round in September 2016 that was followed by an investment of undisclosed size by InvestEco three months later.
Jamie Shea, Chefs Plate’s co-founder and CEO, said: “We are more than delighted to have found a partner in HelloFresh that shares our passion for food and quality at all levels.
“The partnership will allow us to leverage the strength of the most successful global player in the market and at the same time continue to build a sustainable Canadian food system and support the community around us.”
