AAA HelloFresh unveils IPO recipe

HelloFresh unveils IPO recipe

HelloFresh, a Germany-based meal kit delivery service backed by household appliances supplier Vorwerk, will raise up to €318m ($369m) in an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, TechCrunch reported yesterday.

HelloFresh has priced shares in the middle of its range at €10.25 ($11.90), valuing the business at approximately €1.7bn. The full $369m amount is dependent on underwriters exercising their greenshoe option to purchase additional shares.

The offering was first reported a month ago, before further details emerged a few days later.

The IPO is the company’s second attempt at a flotation, having previously filed in October 2015 with the aim of securing €300m before withdrawing plans a month later due to unfavourable market conditions.

Founded in 2011, HelloFresh operates a subscription service for meal kits. Users receive recipes and the exact quantities of ingredients to cook the dishes at home, with plans starting at approximately $70 for two meals per week that feed four people.

The company is active in nine countries, but has so far been unable to turn a profit. However, its business is expanding, with 90,000 accounts added during the second quarter of 2017.

HelloFresh has received more than $365m in funding to date, most recently raising $88m from investment firm Baillie Gifford and an unnamed investor in in December 2016 at a $2.7bn valuation.

E-commerce group Rocket Internet, which owns a 53% stake in HelloFresh, provided $115m in capital for the company in February 2015, following an $84.7m cash injection from Baillie Gifford in 2014.

Rocket Internet and Vorwerk Direct Selling Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Vorwerk, had peviously participated in HelloFresh’s $10m funding round in 2012 alongside investment firm Kinnevik and venture capital firm Holtzbrinck Ventures.

Berenberg, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Rabobank are the underwriters for the offering.

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