Plated (meal kits)

Plated

Company type	Private (before acquisition)
Industry	Meal kit delivery service
Founded	2012 (2012)
Founder	Nick Taranto, Josh Hix
Defunct	November 27, 2019 (2019-11-27)
Fate	Acquired by Albertsons Companies, Inc.
Headquarters	United States
Products	Meal kits
Parent	Albertsons Companies, Inc.

Plated was a U.S.-based meal kit provider that was acquired by Albertsons Companies, Inc. The enterprise was established in 2012 by Nick Taranto and Josh Hix, who were classmates at Harvard Business School. The company gained visibility through its involvement in Techstars (2013), as well as appearances on Shark Tank (2014) and Beyond the Tank (2015). Although Plated initially arranged an investment deal with Mark Cuban on Shark Tank, it ultimately did not materialize; later, the founders secured funding from investor Kevin O'Leary. Prior to its acquisition by Albertsons in September 2017, Plated completed several rounds of venture capital financing.

History

Plated specialized in delivering weekly meal kits that included pre-portioned ingredients and cooking instructions for consumers to prepare meals at home. After its launch in November 2012, the company participated in the Spring 2013 Techstars NYC accelerator program and obtained $1.4 million in seed capital led by ff Venture Capital, with additional angel investments from TechStars and Andrew McCollom of Facebook. By mid-2013, Plated had distributed over 100,000 meals across the Northeast and Midwest regions and sought Series A funding to support a nationwide rollout.

In April 2014, Plated appeared on the television show Shark Tank, where it negotiated a $500,000 investment for a 6% stake with Mark Cuban; however, this agreement was renegotiated after filming and eventually fell through. Following this, the founders successfully raised capital from Kevin O'Leary. In January 2014, the company completed a $5 million Series A funding round, which was followed by an additional $15 million later that year. The rapid expansion of operations required Plated to relocate multiple times to larger fulfillment facilities during its first three years.

The company was featured on Beyond the Tank in May 2015, at which time it was forecasted to exceed $100 million in annual revenue shortly thereafter. In July 2015, Plated secured $35 million in Series B funding and subsequently extended this round by $20 million toward the end of 2016.

Albertsons acquired Plated for an estimated $300 million in September 2017 and began offering its meal kits in selected store locations by April 2018. Nevertheless, Albertsons terminated Plated's subscription service in November 2019, ceasing all deliveries on November 27 of that year.