Chicago Ventures partners closely with exceptional entrepreneurs building companies in undercapitalized high-potential ecosystems.

Chicago Ventures

MATH Venture Partners is an early to middle-stage fund managed by a seasoned team of hands-on investors and operators. We look for entrepreneurial teams that have customer acquisition as part of their core DNA. It is this maniacal focus, deep appreciation for process and exceptional talent that makes them stand out. MATH forms deep and personal partnerships with entrepreneurs. We have built and scaled many large companies to successful exits. Both of our Managing Directors are serial entrepreneurs and teachers at heart. We love to partner with coachable founding teams that strive to constantly improve. Let's build something great together.

MATH Venture Partners

M25 is a Chicago-based Midwest-focused venture capital firm run by Victor Gutwein and Mike Asem. Since the firm's inception in 2015, M25 has invested in 90+ early-stage tech startups in over 24 cities across 11 states in the Midwest. M25's objective, analytical model and collaborative, forward-thinking approach creates a large portfolio spanning several industries across the entire region, allowing them to establish M25 as a key node in Midwest startup ecosystem.

Sandalphon Capital is a micro venture capital firm focused on early stage (Seed and Series A) investments.  Industry focus: B2B SaaS, FinTech, Real Estate Tech / PropTech, Tech-Enabled Healthcare Services / Healthcare IT, IoT / Hardware with Recurring Revenue  Geographic focus: Chicago, the Midwest, and other relatively underserved markets, NY (primarily for FinTech and Real Estate Tech), others opportunistically.  We are focused on finding strong management teams and problem-solving, tech-enabled business models that will scale into high margin, recurring revenue businesses.

Sandalphon Capital

Valor Equity Partners is an operational growth investment firm that focuses on growth companies across various stages of development. For decades, it has served its companies with the expertise to solve the challenges of growth and scale. Valor Equity partners with companies and entrepreneurs who are committed to the highest standards of excellence and the courage to transform their industries.

Valor Equity Partners

Hyde Park Venture Partners is an early stage venture capital firm focused on high-growth, mid-continent technology startups. We seek companies with an exceptional founding team and fast-growth potential, looking to raise a first or second round of capital. With offices in Chicago and Indianapolis, our team is tenacious, responsive, and committed to adding value to each investment.

Hyde Park Venture Partners

Service Provider Capital is a venture capital fund that co-invests in series A deals led by institutional venture funds. It was founded in 2014 and is based in Golden, Colorado.

Service Provider Capital

Flyover Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies funds. We do one thing, and we do it well: We support people who are underestimated for no reason other than doing business in the Flyover region. When we invest, we do it early — and with great conviction. Then we get to work because your success is our success. We're here for you in the good times and especially the bad times, all to ensure you have the resources to be successful.

Flyover Capital

Cobre Capital is an early-stage investor, making pre-seed, seed, and post-seed investments in software and technology companies. They couple their targeted network with tools, systems, and experience that have been deliberately built to reduce risk. They leverage these assets to assist in the heaving lifting required to get the companies they work with moving faster.  Cobre Capital love B2B technology companies with a working product, market validation, and a big vision. The firm prefers to invest in the software, healthcare, information technology, and mobile sectors.

Cobre Capital

Founded in 2009, Bluestein is a family-based venture capital fund that invests in the future of food. The firm is looking for game-changing ventures across the food industry that redefine how consumers achieve their health and wellness. The firm spans the entire value chain both B2C and B2B with a focus on four areas: high-growth consumer brands, proprietary food tech, next-gen commerce, and value-add digital technology. The firm is laser-focused on preeminent and defensible brands, services, technologies, and platforms that have the potential to transform the industry.

Bluestein Ventures

Branded Strategic Hospitality is an investment and solutions company that leverages its ecosystem of hospitality venues, expertise, and deep relationships to influence, accelerate, and evolve hospitality technology (“HI-Tech”) and F&B innovation. Branded’s Principals and Managing Partners have worked together in the restaurant business for over 25 years, including the formation of Branded Restaurants in 2007.

Branded Strategic Hospitality

Upheaval investments is a seed through growth stage venture firm that invests in groundbreaking technologies led by bold founder vision.

Upheaval Investments

Branded Hospitality Ventures (BHV) is an investment & advisory company, founded by Hospitality Operators, that leverages its 25 years of industry expertise, deep relationships and capital to influence, accelerate and deliver value to hospitality-centric and F&B innovation companies.

Branded Hospitality Ventures

DG VENTURES is the Leading Venture Capital with AUM 700m USD (Asset Under Management is over 70 Billion JPY as of March 2022) | Keith Yuki Isobe, Managing Director). Track Records: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Coinbase, airbnb, Indie Semiconductor, GrubMarket, udemy, THREDUP, INTERCOM, Lime, gojek...etc. Providing partnerships for entrepreneurs building innovations.

DG VENTURES

Chowly

Chowly provides innovative tech solutions to connect restaurant POS platforms with third-party online ordering solutions and provide technology-based restaurant industry solutions at an affordable price. It also lowers staffing costs, increases revenue, and reduces errors.

<div>
 
 Chowly is a Chicago-based provider of integrated order management solutions. The company&rsquo;s solutions enable restaurants to launch, manage, and optimize their online ordering, integrate order management platforms with POS systems, and manage third-party menus and orders using a single interface. Chowly&rsquo;s platform also offers a &quot;Smart Pricing&rdquo; tool, which consolidates third-party delivery data, analytics, and AI to provide strategic pricing suggestions based on factors, such as surrounding area volume, seasonal demands, and peak business hours.&nbsp;
 
 
 In February 2023, Chowly acquired Koala, a customer experience platform for restaurant brands, with plans to expand Chowly&rsquo;s partnership ecosystem and the value offering. The combined platform will serve a network of over 16,000 restaurants nationwide and process over 350,000 orders per day nationwide.&nbsp;
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26297">
 January 2024
 </a>
 , Chowly announced the acquisition of Targetable, a provider of an automated digital marketing platform for the restaurant industry. Chowly will include Targetable&rsquo;s marketing technology to its suite of services to with the aim of supporting restaurants to enhance their sales.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 As of June 2023, the company had over 150 marketplace partners, with its solutions deployed at over 12,000 restaurants. In October 2020, the company entered a partnership with Grubhub to collaborate on enhancing the onboarding efforts of mutual restaurant clients. Chowly also has a partnership with Google to enable its customers to place orders directly via the Google page of a restaurant. 
 
</div>

From fast food to fine dining, everything but the kitchen sink is suddenly just a tap away.

Online Food Delivery

Chowly Announces Acquisition of Targetable to Help Increase Demand for Restaurants

Block, Inc.

To integrate online ordering into Square POS.

Infrastructure providers that offer solutions to help restaurants integrate and centralize online ordering and delivery systems from multiple third party vendors

<div>
 
 DoorDash operates an online food delivery platform, connecting restaurants with customers, across the US, Australia, Canada and Japan. As of February 2022, the company was the market leader in the US among OFD players, with an estimated 58% market share according to Bloomberg Second Measure. Its US operations span over 4,000 cities, with more than 400,000 restaurant partners servicing over 18 million customers, as of April 2021. DoorDash is one of the first startups (along with Postmates) to offer a delivery facility through an aggregator platform, which competitor GrubHub only started in 2015. The company has also expanded into grocery and convenience store delivery over the last 2-3 years, with a hybrid business model consisting of a mix of supermarket partnerships and its own network of dark stores. As of June 2022, the company operated in 27 countries including the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, Australia, Israel, and New Zealand as well as countries in the Nordics, Baltics, Eastern and Central Europe, and the Caucasus.
 
 
 Prior to the pandemic, DoorDash charged restaurants a commission of up to 30% of order value, and a service or delivery fee from customers, depending on the type of service (takeout or delivery). However, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, third-party delivery platforms were criticized for their heavy commission fees, with several cities across the US imposing a temporary 15% delivery commission cap to support restaurants, given their higher dependency on third party food delivery providers. In response, DoorDash introduced a new three tiered commission structure for US restaurants (with less than 75 locations) in April 2021, ranging between 15%-30% delivery commission (+6% pickup commission), with limits on 1) delivery area; 2) app visibility; and 3) access to high-value DashPass customers, for the lower commission range. Under the new commission structure, consumers bear a higher share of delivery costs. Consumers who subscribe (USD 9.99 per month) to DashPass, however, are eligible for zero delivery fees on orders over USD 12.00. The company classifies DashPass subscribers as &ldquo;high-value&rdquo;, likely due to their frequency of ordering food delivery. In April 2022, the company launched 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9779">
 &ldquo;DashPass for Students,&rdquo; 
 </a>
 a discounted subscription plan for college students. The new program builds on its existing DashPass (launched in 2018), allowing DoorDash to make its services more accessible to students across the US.&nbsp;
 
 
 DoorDash also operates other business models such as 1) DoorDash Self-Delivery: a platform that allows restaurants and food businesses to have a listing on the DoorDash platform, while using their own delivery people and setting their own delivery zone and fees (lower commission vs. restaurants that use DoorDash&rsquo;s drivers); and 2) DoorDash Drive (Drive): a white-label product, which allows participating restaurants to offer delivery through their own apps or websites (instead of the DoorDash app) with delivery being carried out by DoorDash drivers. In March 2022, the company conducted a beta launch of its new feature &ldquo;Return a Package,&rdquo; allowing customers to return packages to the closest post office, UPS, or FedEx location. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19802">
 June 2023
 </a>
 , DoorDash launched a new Earn by Time feature that enables drivers to choose between getting compensated for each delivery or being paid an hourly flat rate. DoorDash also launched a safety feature that allows drivers to share their location with up to five contacts. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20692">
 July 2023
 </a>
 , DoorDash tested Dash AI, an AI-powered chatbot, in select markets. DoorDash expects the technology to expedite the ordering process and enable customers to receive personalized restaurant recommendations by using simple text prompts.
 
 
 In contrast to competitor UberEats - which has expanded aggressively through a series of acquisitions - DoorDash has predominantly grown organically, with the support of a few strategic acquisitions. DoorDash&rsquo;s most recent acquisition was in March 2022, when it entered into a definitive agreement to 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8851">
 acquire Bbot,
 </a>
 a contactless ordering and payment solution provider. The purchase allowed the company to expand its in-store operations product suite for merchants, including in-store digital ordering and payments. Previously, the company acquired Chowbotics, the developer of a stationary salad-making robot, &ldquo;Sally,&rdquo; in February 2021. In July 2022, DoorDash announced plans to shut down Chowbotics. &nbsp;In August 2019, the company bought rival online food delivery platform Caviar for USD 410 million. The acquisition strengthened Doordash&rsquo;s market share in Pennsylvania and Oregon, where Caviar had more than 10% market share.
 
 
 In June 2022, DoorDash completed its acquisition of Wolt, a Finland-based online food delivery platform. The acquisition expanded DoorDash&rsquo;s global presence from four countries to 27. The deal was closed at a value close to USD 3.5 billion, although it was initially valued at USD 8.1 billion when announced in November 2021. This is a result of DoorDash's share price falling by more than 55% since November. DoorDash issued over 46 million shares to Wolt shareholders in the transaction. Wolt CEO Miki Kuusi was to head the company's operations outside the US, including Wolt&rsquo;s 23 markets as well as Australia, Canada, and Japan. In less than two weeks following the acquisition, Wolt launched its new subscription service
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11037">
 
 Wolt+
 </a>
 in Prague and scaled its operations in Israel by launching operations in Israel&rsquo;s northern region.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 DoorDash has restaurant partnerships with Chipotle, Denny&rsquo;s, Wingstop and Little Caesars. In February 2022, DoorDash launched 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8416">
 DoorDash Capital 
 </a>
 in partnership with Parafin, a financial services technology company, to provide revenue-based financing to eligible restaurants and DoorDash merchants. It would support investments in growth including purchasing equipment, hiring, marketing costs, rent, and payroll. That same month, DoorDash Storefront (launched in 2020) integrated with Google to offer commission-free online orders to restaurant partners in the US. In March 2021 Doordash partnered with Missouri-based family-owned supermarket retailer Schnuck Markets to deliver prepared meals from five store locations in St. Louis, Missouri, to addresses within a six-mile radius of the stores. In July 2022 the two companies expanded the partnership to include 25 locations across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. In January 2023 expanded its delivery 
 <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/13/starbucks-and-doordash-to-launch-delivery-partnership-in-atlanta-expand-nationwide-in-2023/">
 partnership
 </a>
 with Starbucks to include the delivery of&nbsp; Starbucks products across all 50 US states by March 2023. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19802">
 June 2023
 </a>
 , the company partnered with Amazon Canada to offer a free one-year membership of the company's subscription service, DashPass, to Amazon Prime members.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 DoorDash generated a revenue of USD 8,635 million and incurred an operating loss of USD 579 million during the year ended December 2023.
 
</div>

DoorDash

Gousto is a subscription-based recipe kit startup based in the UK, with operations in the UK and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31074">Northern Ireland</a>. Customers have the option to select from two-person or family box options, with a choice between two and four recipes that may price a serving between USD 3.80 to USD 7.90. Gousto has a range of recipes catering to different customer preferences such as vegetarian, plant-based, gluten-free, dairy-free, DIY pizza bases, lean in 15, healthy choice, 10-minute meals as well as oven-ready options.Gousto <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8713">raised USD 230 million </a>in February 2022. The round followed an infusion of <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7648">USD 150 million </a>in January 2022. Both rounds were led by Softbank’s Vision Fund 2. The company intended to use the funds to double its tech team by the end of 2022.The company reported revenue growth of 67% YoY to GBP 315 million (~USD 393.8 million) in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10005">FY2021. </a>Gousto reported that it had sold 90 million+ meals in 2021 compared to 53 million meals the previous year. EBITDA was up 10% YoY to GBP 20 million (~USD 25 million) in FY2021, while net cash from operations reported growth of 136% YoY to GBP 37 million (~USD 46.3 million).

Gousto

Mindful Chef, founded in the UK, provides health-focused meal kits with pre-portioned fresh ingredients, free-range chicken, 100% grass-fed beef and UK-landed fresh fish. A weekly box contains between two to five recipes and customers are able to choose from 16 recipes which are changed weekly, with vegan options as well as gluten-free and dairy-free options. The company caters to flexitarians, vegetarians and pescatarians, too. Additionally, the company donates a meal to a child in poverty for each meal purchased. Customers are able to skip, pause, cancel or schedule one-off deliveries at any time. The company also offers frozen meals and smoothies. As of September 2020, the company states that more than 5 million meals have been sold to more than 100,000 customers. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/31072">June 2024</a>, Mindful Chef launched its services in Northern Ireland.In December 2021, the company partnered with the British supermarket brand <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinrozario/2021/12/28/waitrose-pioneers-recipe-box-service-with-mindful-chef/?sh=214ea7df40d5">Waitrose </a>to offer a co-branded recipe box that featured a Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredient product. In April 2022, the company expanded its partnership with Waitrose by launching a quartet of chilled ready meals available via Waitrose stores. In August 2022, the company partnered with Diabetes UK to launch a new meal range for customers with type 2 diabetes. The menus came with extensive nutritional labeling and include gluten-free, dairy-free, and plant-based options. In September 2023, Mindful Chef partnered with the fast food brand LEON to launch four healthy fast food recipes.

Mindful Chef

<div>
 
 HelloFresh delivers weekly meal kits, containing pre-portioned fresh ingredients and step-by-step recipes, to its subscribers in 18 countries (as of October 2022) across Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand, with a global base of 8.0 million active customers as of Q2 2022. Its meal kits are priced between USD 7.49&ndash;10.99 per meal, in-line with competitors Blue Apron and Marley Spoon, with consumers subscribing to a weekly (rather than monthly) service, which enables more flexibility to skip weeks. HelloFresh launched its own delivery fleets in the 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24686">
 US
 </a>
 and the 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18306">
 UK
 </a>
 in 2023. 
 
 
 HelloFresh has grown its US presence and product offerings through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth, aligned to its multi-tier brand strategy. The company acquired premium brand Green Chef in March 2018, and subsequently, extended its menu offerings to include organic meals for US customers, including special diets such as ketogenic and paleo. In 
 <a href="https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/online/hellofresh-launches-specialist-diet-meal-kit-brand-green-chef-in-uk/655593.article">
 April 2021
 </a>
 , following its success in the US market, Green Chef was expanded to the UK. In August 2022, Green Chef was also launched in the Netherlands. The company&rsquo;s acquisition of Factor (a ready-to-eat meal company) in December 2020 was aimed at expanding into the convenience-focused customer segment. In terms of organic growth, the company launched its value brand, EveryPlate, in 2018 for budget-conscious consumers, featuring meal kits that average around USD 4.99 per serving.
 
 
 Overseas, HelloFresh acquired a ~10% stake in Russia&rsquo;s largest meal-kit provider Chefmarket, in September 2021, through a cash capital increase. HelloFresh has also announced plans to acquire Australia-based ready-meals firm Youfoodz (announced in July 2021), which would expand its customer base in Australia as well as its presence in the ready-to-heat category.&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In December 2021, the company announced plans to invest EUR 450 million&ndash;550 million (~USD 507 million&ndash;620 million) and plans to strengthen its 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7315">
 capacity expansion
 </a>
 and customer experience
 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7315">
 plan
 </a>
 by further opening fulfillment centers and increasing its theoretical revenue capacity across all verticals to over EUR 10 billion (~USD 14 billion). Two months later, HelloFresh-owned prepared meal delivery company Factor announced the 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8234">
 opening of a new distribution center
 </a>
 in Lake Zurich, IL.
 
</div>

HelloFresh

Territory Foods offers more than 35 different meals that are updated weekly and are either cooked prior to delivery or delivered as meal kits containing produce. Customers can choose to select delivery of weekly meal plans, individually customize a plan, or market boxes with fresh products to cook at home. Meals are free of refined sugars, gluten, and dairy, however, the company is not certified dairy-free, gluten-free or other allergen-free.In April 2021, the company raised USD 22 million in a venture round led by US Venture Partners and celebrity athletes Abby Wambach and Vernon Davis. The company intends to divert the fresh funds for its expansion into new cities. The investment round brings the total funds raised to date to USD 44 million.

Territory Foods

Platforms that offer ready-to-cook meal kits to individuals who are interested in cooking, but have limited time or skills. Meal kits usually include recipes with step-by-step instructions along with pre-portioned ingredients. Food delivery is often carried out by independent contract workers who are either registered with the platform or employed directly by the platform.

Platforms that prepare and deliver meals based on rotating menus that allow the customer to choose a meal plan of up to multiple dishes for a week with a low level of consumer involvement in cooking and plating. Food delivery is often carried out by independent contract workers who are either registered with the platform or employed directly by the platform.

On-demand delivery platforms that offer a wide range of items (such as various cuisines, groceries, etc)

On-demand delivery platforms that offer specific types of food or cuisine

Infrastructure providers that offer delivery or dispatch management systems

Infrastructure providers that offer white label online ordering websites and apps for restaurants to build their own in-house solutions

Solutions in the "in-house ordering solutions" segment allow restaurants to build custom websites, menus, etc.

Most solutions available in "in-house ordering solutions" provide B2B SaaS solutions

Some OFD players such as Uber and Grubhub provide autonomous food delivery services

<div>
 Chowly, an integrated order management solutions firm, has acquired Targetable, an automated digital marketing platform for restaurants. Chowly plans to add Targetable's marketing technology to its own services to assist restaurants in boosting their sales.
 
</div>

Chowly

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