Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Spencer Godfrey

Innit Raises $18 Million For Connected Kitchen Platform

It’s been a pretty good couple months for Innit. First was the debut of the Pirch smart kitchen concept store in May, and last month they announced that Whirlpool, one of the world’s biggest appliance makers, would use the Innit platform across their various kitchen brands. And this week they announced a new funding round, raising an additional $18 million to bring their total funding to $43 million.

The company did not say who the investors were for this round (they also didn’t disclose the investors for their initial funding round). The investment comes about eight months after they announced their initial funding round at last year’s Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle. For more information, visit Business Wire.

Freshly Nabs $21 Million by Focusing on Fresh

Freshly, a food delivery startup focused on delivering healthy and fresh food, announced a $21 million series B round. The food delivery startup business – while still the largest sector in foodtech – has seen some doubters lately and a resultant pullback in funding dollars and some companies going out of business entirely. Freshly seems to be bucking the trend,  but also may just be a sign that despite a downturn, investors still see a big opportunity is food delivery. Read more at TechCrunch.

Are Smart Appliances Still Priced Too High?

They are if you ask Lux Research, who published a report saying that pricing of connected kitchen products are three times that of other products. We’ve noticed a similar price premium for new high profile products like the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator, which is not altogether surprising since we’re still in the earliest phases of the connected white goods market. That said, as companies like Whirlpool begin to roll out their product lines into their mainstream brands (they’re starting with their premium brand Jenn-Air) and as companies like Sears begin to offer connected appliances, we expect pricing to drop fairly quickly in the coming 12-24 months. For more information, visit Yahoo Finance.