HomeCooks, a marketplace for prep meals cooked by independent chefs, has raised almost £750k in a new funding round topped off by the crowd.
Nearing its £750k goal on crowdfunding site Republic, HomeCooks has offered up 6.8% of its equity in a raise valuing the startup at £10.3m.
Boasting 230% year-on-year growth to October 2025, the DTC and retail prepared meal vendor has launched in more than 80 independent and Budgens stores in the past year, with a Co-op trial launch in December 2025.
The raise followed a previous fundraising round of roughly £730k, and has been backed by venture capital firms including Love Ventures, Praetura, Speedinvest, and angel investors such as Deliveroo’s Will Shu.
“We’re incredibly excited,” said founder Josh Magidson.
“This round is led by Love Ventures, with Praetura, Speedinvest and several brilliant angels also participating. It marks a major moment as we scale HomeCooks into a national leader in chef-made, healthy meal plans and expand into retail.”
The company’s pitch to investors focused on the company’s capex and asset-light model, where HomeCooks merely acts as a middleman between its network of freelance chefs and customers.
While its DTC meals are prepped and dispatched by the chefs themselves, the company’s retail products are produced by larger third-party manufacturers – though are still developed in collaboration with individual HomeCooks chefs.
In late January the company also entered into an exclusive agreement with rapid delivery partner Gopuff to distribute its “high-protein, high-fibre, completely clean label” series of bento-style meal boxes.
No comments yet