French startup Jow raised $20 million in funding from Eurazeo. Jow aims to make cooking at home easier by providing menu suggestions and helping customers to order groceries online. Jow has partnered up with national food retailers to ensure that your order is processed seamlessly by your local grocery store.
Today's round also includes existing investors Headline and Stride.VC. Jow was founded in 2018 and has raised $1.5 million in October 2018, and $7 million December 2019.
Jow is easier to explain if you describe what it isn't. Jow is not a delivery service for groceries. Jow does not offer food delivery services that allow you to pick pre-prepared meals.
Jow asks you to describe your home when you sign up for it. What is the number of children and adults living in your house? Do you have any food allergies or restrictions? Are you using a microwave oven?
Jow will then recommend meals for the following week. Each meal can be reviewed and modified. You can, for example, substitute something if it is not what you want. Each meal can also be modified by adding or removing people.
Jow automatically generates a list with items that can be purchased to make those meals. Startup Jow aims to be as efficient and economical as possible. This means that you won't have three bottles of olive oils if you only need one olive oil for three meals. You can also add household items, beverages, and anything else that you don't already have to the shopping list at the end.
Your order is not processed by the company directly. Jow will transfer your items to a supermarket near you. You have the option to choose where you wish to purchase your food. This partnership includes six of the largest French grocery brands, Carrefour and Auchan, Intermarch. Leclerc, Monoprix, Monoprix, Leclerc, Leclerc, Monoprix, Chronodrive, which together represent over 4,000 locations across the country.
Your login information from any of these brands will allow you to connect to your favourite retailer. You have the option of curbside pickup or home shipping.
Online grocery shopping is not new. However, the experience hasn't changed much in the last few years. It is important to know exactly what you are looking for. You can sort items into different categories to get a grid with the items within each category.
It is still difficult to plan ahead and order online. You have three options to resolve this problem. Either you plan ahead and be prepared, or you can use instant grocery shopping services that deliver in under 15 minutes. Or you can order food online via Deliveroo, Uber Eats, and other delivery services.
Jow believes that improving meal planning could change the way you use online grocery shopping services. You can order less food delivery services by removing all the complexities. This will help you save money and reduce waste. Preparing a meal at home is always the most environmentally-friendly option.
It's also a capital-efficient strategy. The startup has only 35 employees and does not own any food products. It earns revenue through grocers.
Jow users have already ordered over 20 million meals via the app. Nearly 70% are from company recipes.
Jow has announced that it closed its funding round earlier in the year. The company will expand its operations to other countries, starting with the U.S. It will face competition from other meal-planning startups like Kitchenful.
