Josh Magidson is looking to make it a hat-trick of FoodTech successes with HomeCooks as he eyes expansion in the North of England with investment from PXN Ventures.
Magidson’s student takeaway marketplace Eatstudent was acquired by Just Eat while he is also behind Zing Zing, which grew into the UK’s largest Chinese food delivery chain.
He founded HomeCooks in London in 2020 and has won backing from New Look founder Tom Singh and Leonard Picardo, who was one of Deliveroo’s first employees.
Now the startup, which aims to scale restaurant-quality meal prep across the UK, has raised £1.4 million and is also fundraising on crowdfunding platform Republic, where it is nearing its £750k target.
The marketplace connects health-conscious consumers with delicious homemade dishes from independent chefs.
“The health-focused meal-prep market is growing rapidly, but customers increasingly want real homemade food and greater variety, delivered in the form of straight-forward meals they can enjoy every day,” said Magidson.
“Our marketplace model is built to deliver exactly that; at a scale traditional brands can’t match.”
HomeCooks specialises in balanced, protein-rich and nutrient dense meals, with over 300 options available at any one time. Customers sign up to a weekly meal plan, HomeCooks’ partner chefs then batch cook the orders, such as Grilled Chicken Teriyaki or Lean Mean Lasagna, and HomeCooks delivers them.
The platform puts independent chefs at the core of its offer and provides consumers a wide range of exciting global cuisine.
HomeCooks, which has received funding from PXN Ventures, Love Ventures, Speedinvest and several angel investors, is also planning to use the money raised to form new partnerships with supermarkets, having recently launched its products with ten Co-op stores across Lincolnshire.
This marks a significant expansion in retail beyond HomeCooks’ existing partnerships with Budgens, farm shops and independent retailers. The retail rollout forms part of the company’s broader strategy to scale across the North of the UK, with the marketplace model enabling regional expansion through local chef partnerships.
The move addresses a growing opportunity in the meal-prep market, which has expanded significantly in recent years, with HomeCooks now serving more than 60k regular users. However, the sector remains dominated by brands using centralised kitchens to produce limited menus – a shortfall HomeCooks aims to address.
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“This investment comes at an important time in the HomeCooks’ journey. It will help us accelerate our retail expansion and bring our meals to a lot more people across the UK,” added Magidson.
Peter Carway, investment director at PXN Ventures, said: “We back founders who rethink established categories, and HomeCooks is tapping into two powerful trends – healthier eating and convenient meal prep – with a model that is both highly scalable and deeply aligned with what modern consumers want.
“HomeCooks’ retail expansion is a major step forward and we’re excited to be backing Josh and the team as they enter a new and exciting growth phase, particularly given their plans to scale outside the London and the South East to new territories such as the North of the UK, where there is a significant opportunity.”
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