Unilever Ventures Invests in Sun Basket Meal Kit Startup

The company touted Sun Basket’s “healthy, organic meals service platform” as a clear leader in the meal kit market.

May 12, 2017

LONDON – Unilever Ventures, along with Baseline Ventures and Founders Circle Capital, infused meal-kit startup Sun Basket with $9.2 million, Fortune reports. Unilever Ventures had been eyeing a number of meal kit players in the United States before picking Sun Basket.

“Over a relatively short period of time, Sun Basket has built a clear leadership position as the best healthy, organic meals service platform,” Olivier Garel, head of Unilever Ventures, said. The company pointed to Sun Basket’s customer retention rates as one reason for the investment.

“Unilever thought we had the fastest growth rate of anyone within our space,” said Sun Basket CEO co-founder Adam Zbar. This new backing will help Sun Basket’s promotional campaigns. Zbar’s goal is for Sun Basket meal kits to have more personalization for customers to build their own kits.

Meal kits are still a small market, but many experts see growth potential. Morningstar predicts nearly 19 million U.S. consumers will have experimented with an online meal kit service by 2021, up from a 8 million in 2016. Players include Blue Apron, HelloFresh, Purple Carrot, HomeChef and even Kroger. Sun Basket sells kits with organic meats, seafood and produce free of added hormones and antibiotics.

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