Frolick raises pre-seed round for meal delivery service

Frolick, a US-based meal delivery company offering hot, chef prepared meals starting at under $10 with no fees or order minimums, has raised a pre-seed round of $1.8 million.

It will use the cash to help fund hiring, marketing and geographic expansion.

Participants in the round included gategroup as strategic investors and several angels including current and former executives for Delivery Hero and Gopuff. 

Frolick also announced that it has has doubled its service area, expanding its delivery from Reston across the river to Washington, DC.

“It’s a brilliant concept that requires very little upfront infrastructure cost,” says Maurus Lienhard, President Food Service & Corporate Development at gategroup.

“We could see immediately that the demand was there. We are thrilled to partner in this exciting project and are looking forward to working closely with the Frolick team to expand the service into additional cities in the coming months.”

“Our belief, especially in this economy, is that meal delivery won’t really take off for the masses until fees are eliminated,” says Frolick’s founder Jipy Mohanty, a former exec at Delivery Hero.

“Our reception in NoVA has been very strong, and we’ve had hundreds of requests for service in DC and other cities. Our cost structure gives us a clear path to profitability, and we’re already working on a playbook for national expansion.”

Frolick consumer customers tend to be full-time workers (often with families) who want a break from cooking.

Its business customers tend to have up to 150 local employees, and are looking for unique ways to draw people back to the office. 

Frolick has developed custom software to manage its logistics and delivery, following many of the same principles as Amazon Prime, including order batching by neighbourhood. Drivers are contractors who are paid a minimum of $20/hour and deliver 5-20 orders per trip.

“We’ve been paying careful attention to what’s worked and what hasn’t for other food and meal delivery companies,” says Mohanty.

“Now we’re ready to take that knowledge forward with a service that’s designed for mass market appeal.”

Funding roundsStaff WriterFrolick, Startups, Meal delivery, Food delivery, Funding rounds, US retailComment