HelloFresh

2010s

HelloFresh was founded in November 2011 by Dominik Richter, Thomas Griesel, and Jessica Nilsson in Berlin. Richter and Griesel packed and hand-delivered to the first 10 customers. It was one of the earlier companies in the meal-kit industry. They were initially funded by Rocket Internet, a German startup studio company. They first started delivering meal kits to paying customers in early 2012, and expanded to The Netherlands, UK, US and Australia the same year. By 2014, the company claimed to be delivering 1 million meals per month. They raised $50 million in a 2014 funding round, after having raised $10 million in 2012, and $7 million in 2013.

By March 2015, the company had 250,000 subscribers, although it was still not profitable. In September of that year, it was valued at €2.6 billion in a funding round where it raised €75 million, making it a unicorn company. The company was still majority-owned by Rocket Internet at that time. It cancelled a planned IPO in November, due to concerns about the company's proposed value. It experienced significant growth during the year, with 530,000 subscribers by the end of October. It had 750,000 subscribers by July 2016, and 1.3 million by the third quarter of 2017.

In October 2017, the company announced a planned IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange to raise $350 million. On 2 November, the company completed its IPO, valuing it at €1.7 billion. At the time of its IPO, the company had a market capitalization of more than double Blue Apron, its largest US-based competitor.

In March 2018, HelloFresh acquired Green Chef, a US organic meal-kit company. In October 2018, Toronto-based HelloFresh Canada acquired Chefs Plate, a Canadian meal-kit company.

In 2019, Rocket Internet sold its remaining stake in HelloFresh by accelerated book building to international institutional investors. Rocket Internet had held a 30.6% stake in HelloFresh, as of the end of 2018.

2020s

In 2020, HelloFresh acquired ready-made meal company Factor75, LLC (doing business as Factor, Factor_, or Factor75) for up to $277 million. Factor75 was started in Batavia, Illinois, in 2013 by Mike Apostal and Nick Wernimont. At the time of the acquisition, it had grown to a $100 million company.

In July 2021, HelloFresh agreed to acquire the Brisbane-based food kit company Youfoodz from Lance Giles and Jordana Stott for A$125 million, with the transaction finalised in October 2021. Giles remained as CEO of Youfoodz during the transition period. According to The New Zealand Herald and The Australian, Giles also owned a 14.5% stake in Youfoodz, which amounted to a cashout of A$18 million. The couple subsequently used NZ$10 million from the sale of Youfoodz to bankroll the independent 2025 horror film Forgive Us All.

In April 2022 HelloFresh launched in Japan, the first Asian market for the meal box provider. Just 8 months later on 20 December 2022, HelloFresh announced their withdrawal from Japan with the CEO Thomas Griesel admitting failure in his ability to drive reasonable ROI. Employees were notified of their layoffs with less than the legal 30-day notice period. On 27 September 2023, HelloFresh filed for bankruptcy in the Tokyo District Court with total debt of 3 billion yen.

HelloFresh's business model is to prepare the ingredients needed for a meal, and deliver them to customers, who must then cook the meal using recipe cards, which can take around 30–50 minutes. It generally provides about three two-person meals a week for about $60 to $70. Each week, about 45 recipes are offered for users to choose from. In several markets, HelloFresh provides "Rapid Box" meals which take only 20 minutes to prepare. Their Factor brand competes in the ready-to-eat market, with not-frozen meals requiring about 2 minutes of preparation.

HelloFresh previously offered a wine-subscription service, based on that of its competitor Blue Apron. This subscription, HelloFresh Wine Club started at $14.83 per bottle or $89 for the whole month (includes 6 bottles of wine). With the Wine Club, customers could also pick between All Reds, All White, or a Mixed Box (Red and White) for their wine.

In March 2018, HelloFresh announced their acquisition of Green Chef, a USDA-certified organic meal-kit company. HelloFresh planned to use the acquisition to offer the largest selection of meal plans and diets for consumers on the market, adding Green Chef's organic vegan and gluten-free menus, including those plans compliant with Paleo and Keto diets. In 2020, HelloFresh acquired ready-made meal company Factor75 (since rebranded to just Factor) for $277 million. Factor was founded in 2013 and produces fresh pre-cooked meals with a focus on health and nutrition.

The company's US operations were responsible for 60% of revenues as of November 2017, and it has approximately 44% of the American market.