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Instant Brands and Vorwerk Invest $20 Million in Smart Kitchen Specialist Fresco

Smart kitchen startup Fresco announced today that it had raised $20 million in Series B funding from kitchen appliance mainstays Instant Brands and Vorwerk, the company behind Thermomix. According to the release, a third company has also participated in the funding round and will be identified later this year.

Fresco, which up until earlier this month was known as Drop, plans to use the funding to bring on additional talent and invest in product development. The company, which currently has a workforce of 50 employees, plans to double its headcount over the next two years.

In both Instant Brands and Vorwerk, Fresco is bringing on investors that are also customers. Fresco started working with Instant Brands, the company behind the popular Instant Pot pressure cooker, in 2019, and last year Fresco developed the Instant Brands Connect app to work with the company’s new premium pressure cooker, the Instant Pot Pro Plus. Vorwerk and Fresco first announced their partnership in 2019 at the Smart Kitchen Summit, a deal in which Fresco was to power device connectivity and online shopping for the Thermomix TM6.

Fresco is among a group of technology platform players building software to power appliance inter-connectivity, cooking assistance, and meal planning for the kitchen. However, while many of the company’s peers have increasingly focused on powering online grocery shopping experiences (including Whisk, which ultimately helped Thermomix with its on-device shopping), Fresco has doubled down on guided cooking, meal planning and device interconnectivity.

I asked Fresco CEO Ben Harris why they decided to focus more on the cooking portion of the meal journey and not emphasize grocery commerce like its peers. According to Harris, it was a matter of focus.

“We absolutely see the value in plugging into grocery,” said Harris in an interview with The Spoon. “It’s a strategic decision to make sure that we build the best guided cooking experience.”

Fresco’s latest funding follows a $13.3 million Series A funding round led by Alpha Edison and Morpheus Ventures in 2020. At the time of their Series A, the company emphasized its intent to build the ‘kitchen operating system,’ a positioning that was not all that surprising given Alpha partner Steve Horowitz’s role as the lead developer for the Android operating system. With its latest investment, the company’s messaging is still essentially the same (with maybe a slightly less tech-forward framing) as it brings on popular consumer brands behind Instant Pot and Thermomix as investors.

“Instant Brands and Fresco are working together to develop innovative breakthroughs in the kitchen, and beyond,” said Ben Gadbois, CEO and President of Instant Brands, in the release. “This investment deepens our partnership further and supercharges these initiatives.”

As for those wondering who the third investor might be, while Fresco is keeping that quiet for now, Harris did offer a clue: Unlike Vorwerk and Instant Brands, Harris said the other investor is not a countertop appliance brand, but is instead a manufacturer of large appliances. The Fresco CEO said he expects more partners to invest in the future.

“We expect to announce more partners in the future investing in the platform and this is just really the first cohort.”

Smart Kitchen Platform Company Drop Changes Name to Fresco

Drop dropped Drop.

The startup that started with a connected scale eight years ago announced it has a new brand identity. The company is now called Fresco, a name which “(reflects) the company’s priority to connect dots in the kitchen between appliances, home cooks and recipes to make cooking effortless,” said the announcement.

Fresco CEO Ben Harris said that the company needed a new brand given its evolution beyond its hardware roots.

“Drop was a great name for a physical product, but we pivoted to become a smart kitchen platform, providing end-to-end solutions to make appliances connected, from firmware development to IoT expertise and an app that pulls all the appliances together,” Harris said. “As a result, we needed a brand that better represented this.”

Drop is part of a cohort of smart kitchen startups that offer software and connectivity solutions to power kitchen appliances and help consumers cook and plan meals. While some of its peers have increasingly focused on shoppable recipes and looked to help power online grocery integrations, Drop has doubled down on expanding its solutions and increasing its partner roster in the connected kitchen and guided cooking space.

The company emphasized the word neutral when describing itself in a new intro video: “What started with a shared love of food and technology has evolved to become the neutral, cross-brand platform that seamlessly brings appliances, home cooks, and recipes together.” That emphasis on neutrality may be a reference to other smart kitchen software platforms that have sold large stakes to appliance brands (Chefling) or others that have been acquired outright (Whisk/Samsung, Yummly/Whirlpool).

The move to change a brand identity nearly a decade into a company’s existence isn’t without risk. Many in the kitchen and consumer cooking technology space are familiar with the Drop name and its products. Now it’s up to Fresco to educate the market about its new identity. However, because Fresco is a B2B brand, the lift won’t be nearly as heavy a lift for the company since it doesn’t have to educate consumers.

Instant Brands Launches Instant Pot Pro Plus and Drop-Powered Connected App

Instant Brands, the company behind the popular Instant Pot line of multicookers, announced today it has launched a new connected multicooker, the Instant Pot Pro Plus, and an all-new Instant Brands Connect app.

The new app was developed in partnership with smart kitchen software company Drop. The two companies began working together with the launch of a guided recipes app in 2019, but that first app was strictly a recipe app with no control features. The new app allows the user to select recipes and initiate cooks, customize recipes, monitor cooking progress, get notifications, delay cooking start, and change steam venting methods. Users of the new Connect app will have access to 1500 recipes to start.

The plan is for the Instant Brands Connect app to allow cooks to eventually connect multiple Instant Brands products. Today customers can download it and will be able to pair the new Instant Pot Pro Plus. Instant has indicated it has a number of other smart products planned in the pipeline, which means we’ll see more Instant Pots, air fryers, and maybe even a coffee maker or two connected to the app. And while the app currently does not have a shoppable recipe feature, I can imagine that functionality in potential future versions.

For Drop, the new app is a strong validation for the Dublin-based startup’s smart kitchen OS. Instant Brands had previously built an app for its Instant Pot Smart Wifi pressure cooker, but with this launch, the multicooker giant is standardizing its connected device strategy around Drop’s smart kitchen platform. Instant Brands sits alongside other big kitchen brands such as Bosch, Electrolux and Thermomix on Drop’s smart kitchen OS partner roster.

The new Instant Pro Plus is available today for $169.99 and the app can be downloaded today in the app store.

Kenwood Partners With Drop to Add Scale Function to the Cooking Chef Stand Mixer

You have your smart ovens, coffee makers and fridges, but what about a smart stand mixer?

Now’s your chance.

Last week, Drop announced they’d partnered with Kenwood to build in the Drop Smart Kitchen OS platform into the latest model of the Kenwood Cooking Chef mixer, one of the older stand mixer brands in the world.

Originally invented almost 70 years ago by the company’s namesake, Ken Wood, the Kenwood Chef was an instant hit and over the past few decades the modern version of the multi-function stand mixer has continued to be Kenwood’s biggest seller.

The Kenwood Chef eventually became the Kenwood Cooking Chef with the addition of a built-in induction heating element almost a decade ago, and the modern version has a variety of attachments like pasta cutters and coffee grinders. With the Drop partnership, the focus is on the integration of the Drop scale and guided cooking functionality.

In the video below, the two companies tout the product as “Your Chef that Weighs and Cooks” (emphasis mine):

By adding a scale to a mixer that already has built-in cooking capabilities and variety of attachments, the Cooking Chef puts itself into a growing category of multi-function products that act as the cooking version of a Swiss Army knife. Products like the Thermomix and ChefIQ weigh, cook, and steam food, all things that the Cooking Chef XL can now do as well.

This isn’t the first time that Drop has partnered with Kenwood, a subsidiary of De’Longhi. Last year, the two companies launched the CookEasy+ multicooker, a product the two had started working on in early 2018.

With the addition of the Kenwood Cooking Chef XL, Drop continues to rack up impressive partnerships with some of the biggest players in countertop cooking. The company has been working with Thermomix (announced last year at the Smart Kitchen Summit) and also is working with pressure cooking giant Instant Pot.

Thermomix and Hestan Cue Connect Up With ‘Smart Cooking Bundle’ and Jointly Developed Recipes

Sometimes the smart kitchen doesn’t feel all that connected, especially when it comes to pairing tech-forward cooking systems from different brands. It doesn’t make much sense if you think about it since the beauty of a connected home is, well, connecting things.

Thermomix and Hestan Cue are trying to change that – at least for Father’s Day – by creating what they’re calling the “Smart Cooking Bundle” and “Smart Cooking” recipe collection.

The bundle part includes a pairing of the two systems at a discount – the TM6 multicooker and the Hestan Cue system (pan and induction burner) for $150 off ($1,749) – but the more interesting part to me is the recipe collection the two companies jointly developed.

The Smart Cooking recipe collection features recipes specifically designed to use both with the Thermomix and Hestan Cue systems. Examples include eggplant with seared tomato sauce or pan seared scallops, where the TM6 is used for prep steps like chopping and steaming, and the Cue is used to finish off the meal by frying, searing or braising.

The recipes will be accessible on both the Thermomix Cookidoo recipe platform on the Thermomix TM6 touchscreen and through the Hestan Cue app.

This isn’t the first outside integration for Thermomix, which announced a partnership with Drop last year. With the Hestan pairing, one can see how Thermomix is positioning the TM6 as a sort of central command cooking hub where they orchestrate cooking with other appliances. While Drop isn’t powering the Hestan integration, I can see the Drop’s “kitchen OS” approach helping the TM6 unify multisystem cooking experiences down the road.

If you’d like to try out the new recipe collection, you can get the Smart Cooking bundle through Father’s day.

FoodTech Intelligence Brief: Evaluating Permanency of COVID Related Behavior Change

And now, with most countries trying to reboot their economies, food-related companies have the challenge of determining which behavioral changes were temporary and permanent. 

Many of the temporary surge behaviors were related to the worries among the population around shortages, causing many people to go out and buy things.

A good example is rice. Rice is shelf-stable, cheap food, something people might horde during uncertain times. 

Here’s a Google Trends graph for the search term “Buy Rice”: 

It’s probably safe to say that rice buying was driven by consumers who wanted cheap, easy to make, shelf-stable food during an uncertain time. Chances are, many consumers will not buy as much rice in the future.

This Food Tech Intelligence Brief is available to Spoon Plus members. You can learn more about Spoon Plus here. 

Kitchen Software Startup Drop Raises $13.3 Million To Help it Build The ‘Kitchen Operating System’

Today Drop, the San Francisco and Dublin based smart kitchen platform startup, announced that it had raised $13.3 million in Series A funding co-led by Alpha Edison and Morpheus Ventures.

The funding brings the company’s total funding to just over $20 million.

As with the company’s last funding round, Drop indicated they plan to use the funding to continue building out its core platform, but this time with a heavy focus developing the consumer experience.

“The kitchen is a mix of motors, heating elements and fragmented interfaces,” said Ben Harris, the CEO of Drop. “Someone walking into a new kitchen has to relearn all of those different pieces. We believe there is a need for a incredibly intuitive experience that pulls all of those together into one unified experience where you can go from your Thermomix to your GE oven, from your Instant Pot to your LG fridge.”

As part of the investment, the company also announced they will welcome two new members to their board: Steve Horowitz, partner at Alpha Edison, and Ray Musci, managing director at Morpheus Ventures.

Horowitz is a particularly interesting addition given his background as lead engineer for Android during its early days. Drop has long talked about building a kitchen OS (they actually own the domain kitchenos.com), something Horowitz clearly has experience in.

I asked Horowitz if he saw parallels between those early smartphone market and today’s kitchen space and he told me did.

With the iPhone and Android, phone makers saw “there is really a better way to do this,” said Horowitz. “I think Drop is in a very similar position.”

The funding news comes a week after Tovala announced a $20 million series B. The two funding announcements show that, despite a pandemic, investors see significant opportunity for innovation in the consumer kitchen.

I asked Harris about this and why interest in the digitization of the consumer kitchen is so strong today.

Appliance makers, grocers and other kitchen industries have seen their business “move from retail to online,” said Harris. “The importance of digital experiences has dramatically increased. That’s the only way that a brand can now have a touch point.”

Harris said he believes the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the kitchen and cooking industry’s move online “by close to five years”.

Instant Pot and Drop Partner for New Guided Cooking Recipe App

Instant Brands, the company behind the Instant Pot, and Drop, which makes smart kitchen software, today announced that the they have developed and launched a new Instant Pot recipe app.

Available for both Android and iOS, the new Instant Pot recipe app will feature roughly 1,000 recipes for Instant Brand appliances such as the Instant Vortex Air Fryer, Instant Ace Blender, and, of course, the full line of Instant Pot pressure cookers. The app will include step-by-step guided cooking recipes powered by Drop that adjust accordingly based on the number of people being served as well as ingredient substitutions.

One Drop feature this new Instant Pot will not have is device control. So while the Instant Pot app will walk you through the steps of making a particular recipe, it won’t allow you to, say, automatically turn on an Instant Pot from the app’s recipe. (Being at the device itself is probably a good idea for something like controlling a blender.)

Powering the Instant Pot app is another nice feather in the cap for Drop. The company announced an integration with Thermomix, another popular standalone appliance, last month. Drop also has deals with Bosch, Electrolux, GE Appliances, and LG Electronics using its software, the Instant Pot has a massive installed base of millions of appliance owners. Those appliance owners are also vociferous in Facebook groups, so if the Instant Pot app works well (or doesn’t), believe me that community won’t be shy about sharing their experience online.

The new Instant Pot recipe app launches today, those using the older version of the app will be migrated to this newer version.

Electrolux Launches Connected Multi-Function Blender Powered by Drop

Swedish appliance maker Electrolux announced yesterday the launch of its Master 9 Multi Blender, a connected multi-purpose countertop device with an accompanying app powered by Drop.

The press announcement didn’t have many details, but a video posted by Electrolux last month shows a rendering of what the Master 9 is capable of. Depending on which model you get, there are three attachments that allow you to make smoothies and juices, or chop up vegetables for thicker pastes and sauces, or grind spices and coffee.

Electrolux Master 9 Multi Blender

Once connected to the blender, the Master X app, which was developed with Drop, offers up a number of recipes, step-by-step instructions, and blend programs that automatically adjust the speed and duration of a blend, depending on what you are making. The recipes in the Master X app were created in partnership with Le Cordon Bleu.

This blender continues Electrolux’s guided cooking push deeper into the kitchen and beyond just heating things up. The company already owns Anova, which makes sous vide wands, and has partnered with both Innit and SideChef.

This also adds another appliance arrow to Drop’s quiver. Last month cooking OS company partnered with Thermomix to control that appliance as well as order groceries.

No word on price for the Master 9, and even if you are interested in it, Electrolux is launching it first in Thailand and Korea this month and will roll it out to other markets in Asia in March.

If you can’t wait that long for a fancypants blender, you could always pick up the NutriBullet Balance ($149) or Instant Pot’s Ace Blender ($124), though that one doesn’t have an app.

Thermomix Partners with Drop for Smart Appliance Control and Grocery Ordering

Thermomix is adding Drop’s smart kitchen software to its all-in-one kitchen appliance, the two companies announced from the stage today at the Smart Kitchen Summit (SKS) in Seattle.

Through the partnership the Thermomix TM6 will connect with other smart kitchen appliances and third-party applications through the device itself. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, Thermomix will now soon be able to preheat an oven, order groceries and optimize recipe content with the push of a button. Thermomix said the first integrations will hit the market in 2020.

The TM6 has more than 20 culinary features including chopping, mixing, blending, different types of cooking including sous vide and fermentation. The device also features guided cooking for more than 50,000 recipes. All that functionality ain’t cheap, however, as the device itself costs $1,500.

But that hasn’t been a daunting price tag for people outside of the U.S. where the device is more popular. What’s more, people aren’t just buying the device, but as we also learned at SKS this week, the company has a crazy high subscription conversion rate:

In addition to appliance control, Drop’s software also does recipe discovery and re-sizing, ingredient swapping, and grocery lists. Thermomix is not the first all-in-one cooker to integrate Drop’s software. Last month Drop announced that it would expand its partnership with Kenwood to be on the CookEasy+ multi-function cooking appliance. Today’s press announcement also said that 40 million Drop-enabled appliances from brands such as GE Appliances, Bosch, Electrolux and LG Electronics will ship over the next three years.

Drop and Kenwood Launch the CookEasy+ All-in-One Cooker

From the big IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, smart kitchen software company Drop announced today the launch of the CookEasy+, a connected all-in-one cooker developed in partnership with Kenwood, a division of De’Longhi Group (not the stereo company).

According to the press release Drop sent to The Spoon, the CookEasy+ is a “multifunctional thermal cooker that allows users to chop, steam, stir, knead, mix, weigh, slow-cook and blend all in one appliance.” Drop’s software platform powers the CookEasy+, relaying step-by-step guided cooking instructions to the device, including temperature, time and speed.

The CookEasy+ also has an integrated scale that Drop says has “single-gram” precision with a max capacity of six kilograms, so you can weigh out the proper amount of ingredients in the device as you are preparing a dish. FWIW, Drop’s first product was a smart scale.

CookEasy+ cook programs can be controlled via a tablet running the Drop software; there is also a range of preset programs available on the built-in 4.3-inch color touchscreen. You can see the CookEasy+ in action in this promotional video:

CookEasy+ All-In-One Cooker - Powered by Drop

The CookEasy+ is the second collaboration from from Drop and Kenwood. In April of last year, the two companies released the Drop-powered Kenwood kCook Multi Smart cooking food processor. The release of the CookEasy+ shows that Kenwood saw enough positive results from the initial partnership to continue with the new product.

All-in-one multicookers like the CookEasy+ and the Thermomix are popular outside of the U.S., which is perhaps why the CookEasy won’t be coming to American shores. The CookEasy+ will be available in stores across France starting in September and will cost €999 (~$1,100 USD).