While New York City is seemingly full of an endless supply of events and attractions, many activities in the city follow the same pattern — eat, drink, repeat. This is a problem for many New Yorkers, as an abundance of food and alcohol options combined with a work culture that demands long hours and little sleep often creates an unhealthy lifestyle for city dwellers. Freshly wants to solve this problem and today they announced a $21 million Series B to help them do it.
The meal delivery service was founded by Michael Wystrach and Carter Comstock in January of 2015. Wystrach had lived in New York City for two years, and like many New Yorkers, he hated cooking, but felt the need to be healthier. His solution was Freshly, a service that makes healthy eating simple with chef-prepared meals delivered to customers’ doorsteps through a weekly subscription.
“We differentiate ourselves from other services in that we’re making on-demand food delivery affordable, convenient and affordable,” said Michael Wystrach, Freshly CEO and co-founder. “We don’t just want Freshly to be in every metropolitan area, but we want to rollout to areas all across the country. The real power in Freshly is that we want to be a service for all of the U.S. population.”
Each week, Freshly allows users to select six, nine, 12 or 21 meals from the company’s rotating menu, which features everything from omelettes to flat iron steak. The meals arrive freshly prepared, at users' doors in a refrigerated, recyclable box. In comparison to other subscription food delivery services, Freshly’s meals arrive prepared and microwave ready, catering to customers who don’t have time to cook or shop, but want a healthier alternative to takeout. Depending on the plan, meals range from $10.75 to $11.50 per meal.
The company is planning on using the new capital to expand to new areas of the United States as well as build out the technology behind its product. The funding round comes on the heels of Freshly’s exponential success since its launch, having rapidly grown from 15 to 160 employees in under two years. In that period, the company also expanded its delivery area from nine to 28 states and now ships close to 250,000 meals per month.
The round was led by Insight Venture Partners. Existing investors Highland Capital Partners and White Star Capital also participated in the round.
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