Sun Basket Raises $30M More For Organic Meal Kit Delivery

Note: We misinterpreted the release, and the company declined to answer questions before publication. However, after hearing from Sun Basket post-publication, we’ve removed mention of it being profitable.

Sun Basket, a self-described “healthy” meal kit delivery startup, has raised a $30 million Series E.

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Repeat backer PivotNorth Capital led the round, which also included participation from Sapphire Ventures, August Capital, Founders Circle, and others. The round brings Sun Basket’s total raised to $125 million since it was founded in April of 2014, according to the company.

While Sun Basket did not disclose exact revenue figures, it did say it has grown at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 80 percent over the past three years.

In a press release, Sun Basket said it will use the new capital “to further evolve into an omni-channel healthy eating platform” by broadening its offerings to include breakfast, lunch and dinner. It also plans to launch new food products and what it describes as a “highly personal AI-powered digital user experience.” The company also said it will aim to build “strategic partnerships that drive user acquisition and brand awareness.”

In the first half of 2017, I interviewed CEO and co-founder Adam Zbar. At that time, he told me that the company employed about 1,200 people and saw 1,300 percent year-over-year revenue growth in 2016. I’ve reached out to ask for updates on these figures but the company declined to comment beyond the CAGR growth mentioned above.

When I talked to him, Zbar told me he was proud of the fact that Sun Basket, as he put it, had been “very capital efficient” with its money. He also told me then that he believed what helped the company stand out from other meal kit players was “better unit economics and stronger user retention.” He claimed that Sun Basket’s strengths were that it doesn’t offer generic meal plans and caters to a variety of diets.

Also at that time, Tim Connors, founder of Menlo Park-based PivotNorth Capital, said he had the opportunity to invest in various types of meal delivery companies but ultimately put his money on Sun Basket. His firm led the company’s seed round and has been consistently investing since.

“With the incredibly large and influential millennial population increasingly prioritizing healthy meals and snacks,” Connors said in a press release, “we believe they have the ability to build a category-defining company that has huge growth potential and is profitable.”