Blue Apron Announces $135 Million in New Funding Led by Fidelity Investments

NEW YORK, June 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Apron, the leading recipe and fresh ingredient delivery service, today announced $135 million in funding led by Fidelity Management and Research Company, with participation from existing investors.

Blue Apron will use the new capital to scale its rapidly growing network of farms, suppliers, and fulfillment capabilities throughout the country. 

"Our mission is to make incredible home cooking accessible to everyone. This financing will allow us to further improve the efficiency of our model, from sourcing to fulfillment, in order to bring our customers a level of quality that has never been available at scale before," said Blue Apron Co-Founder and CEO Matt Salzberg.

Blue Apron has tripled its volume in the last six months, and is now delivering over 3 million meals a month to homes across the United States.  To further its mission, Blue Apron has forged exclusive relationships with hundreds of farmers and artisans. These direct relationships, along with advanced menu-planning, allow Blue Apron to collaborate with farmers to plan their crop rotation throughout the growing season. This summer alone, Blue Apron will purchase millions of pounds of produce directly from small, family-run farms who emphasize sustainable growing practices, with over 1 million pounds of specialty crops being planted and harvested for Blue Apron specifically.

To further support the company's rapid growth, Blue Apron is developing custom fulfillment software tools and investing in automation. These new capabilities will be deployed across Blue Apron's network of fulfillment centers, including the company's newest facility, which opened in Arlington, Texas this month and enables Blue Apron to reach home chefs in over 99% of the continental United States.   

The news marks the latest in a series of milestones for Blue Apron. Earlier this year, Blue Apron expanded its product offering to include a Family Plan, featuring seasonal, family-friendly recipes for four, which has proven extremely popular amongst busy parents. In November of last year, Blue Apron opened its largest, state of the art fulfillment center in Jersey City, New Jersey, and launched the Blue Apron Market, a curated e-commerce store for Blue Apron home chefs.

About Blue Apron

Blue Apron makes incredible home cooking accessible by delivering original recipes and fresh ingredients to customers nationwide. Launched in 2012, Blue Apron is the leading fresh ingredient and recipe delivery service in the United States and delivers over three million meals a month to its loyal following of home chefs. By reinventing the grocery supply chain from the farm to the dinner table, Blue Apron is able to source top-quality, seasonal ingredients, that are fresher and more affordable than customers can get on their own at their local supermarket. Chefs around the world wear blue aprons when learning to cook, and the blue apron has become a symbol of lifelong learning in cooking.  Blue Apron encourages this lifelong learning by introducing members to new ingredients, flavors and cooking techniques with every recipe it creates. Blue Apron was recently named one of Inc. Magazine's "10 Most Innovative Startups of 2014" and one of Mashable's "10 Startups to Watch in 2015". For more information, visit: http://www.blueapron.com.

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Lexy Quadracci
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SOURCE Blue Apron

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http://www.blueapron.com