Austrian startup KochAbo recently announced securing an investment from Pfeiffer Trade Group, which acquired 5% in the food box service. The investment comes as the first in a series of planned ventures of Pfeiffer Group to boost online grocery sales.
While it cannot be disclosed how much money this 5% stake in KochAbo actually amounts to due to the terms of the contract, the Austrian startup seems eager to put the investment to good use. „It is our goal for the next three years to […] secure the weekly five-digit number, meaning that we want to process a minimum of 10.000 deliveries every week,” KochAbo CMO Alexander Leopoldinger-Haiden said. More generally, KochAbo is planning to invest in growth, marketing, and infrastructure in order to “create a good and sustainable basis for the future,” he added. “For our core product – the KochAbo recipe box – there is great potential for growth.”
This core product consists of the delivery of recipes and – more importantly – the corresponding ingredients to your doorstep, making the service particularly attractive to those amongst us not blessed with the ability of a two-star chef to magically produce a delicious meal out of a concoction of seemingly random ingredients. Using an online form, customers can easily order boxes by selecting the number of eaters and recipes, as well as the delivery day (twice, depending on the city). In addition, KochAbo also offers a fruit box plan, delivering three or six kilograms of fresh fruits.
“Our business model is based on the fact that many people don’t use our serviceonly once, but many times per year,” said Leopoldinger-Haiden. With 70.000 euros revenue per week and more than 10.000 customers – “with an upward trend” according to Leopoldinger-Haiden – KochAbo seems to be doing well.
Given these figures and their overall concept, KochAbo was the “logical first investment” for Pfeiffer Trade Group, according to CEO Markus Böhm.
Having acquired the discount food retailer Zielpunkt last year, Pfeiffer Trade Group now seeks to boost online grocery sales – through investing in innovative businesses with venture capital and know-how. “Pfeiffer Trade Group wants to become the market leader in the grocery online business,” Böhm said. “Part of our strategy to this end is to act as a venture capital provider for startups in this field. KochAbo convinced us with their concept […].”
In the future, Pfeiffer Trade Group plans to continue investing in startups that fit their overall strategy, with initial target markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and later in all of Europe.
KochAbo, on its part, is also busy forging plans for the long-term future. For new kinds of products, the team of 13 at will “definitely think outside the box”, Leopoldinger-Haiden said, to find themes and products related to nutrition and making everyday life easier.
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