Campbell Soup has invested $10m in Chef'd, the US online meal-kit business, to expand its e-commerce capabilities.
The investment which is part of a Series B funding round makes the New Jersey-based canned soup producer the largest strategic investor in Chef’d.
Campbell has also secured a seat in the board of directors of the e-commerce meal marketplace.
Campbell Americas Simple Meals and Beverages president Mark Alexander said: “We are fully committed to growing our e-commerce business with an emphasis on bold moves and rapid pace.
“We are firm believers in building relationships with partners that share our vision while enabling us to rapidly learn, evolve and test new capabilities.”
As per the terms of the partnership, the online meal store company will help Campbell with infrastructure and distribution of meal solutions through the latter’s Kitchen site.
Campbell is expected to leverage on Chef’d’s insights on e-commerce business models, insights on shopper behaviors, and access to data analytics.
The partners have also agreed to evaluate various capabilities during the course of the three-year agreement which would revolve around product innovation and fulfilment.
Chef’d CEO Kyle Ransford said: “We are actively looking to add strategic partners and Campbell’s outlook on the future of food and e-commerce aligns perfectly with the Chef’d vision of the future of online grocery.
“Both Campbell and Chef’d believe in continuing to drive innovation in the new food economy, particularly around consumer customization and e-commerce solutions.”
Headquartered in El Segundo, Chef’d enables its users to select and reorder from several meal options at any given time, without involving any subscriptions or membership fees.
The e-commerce food company partners with renowned chefs, culinary experts and several food, fitness, and health and wellness brands to display more than 1,000 meal solutions for its users for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.
