Wonder, the food delivery startup that just received a $100 million investment from Nestlé, is offering unusual incentives to investors as it struggles to raise even more cash, The Post has learned.
The company headed by billionaire Marc Lore, who previously packaged himself by founding Diapers.com and Jet.com, is offering deep discounts to investors who buy convertible shares in a deal that values the company at $3.5 billion, the same rating that Wonder got last time. raised money in June 2022sources said.
Under the terms of the new offering, investors who buy the securities now will have the option to convert them into shares at a 50% discount to the company’s valuation during its next fundraising round, according to sources briefed on the talks.
Wonder is telling investors it believes it can achieve a valuation of between $4.5 billion and $5 billion during the next round, the sources said, although the company has not provided a timeline, one source said.
Wonder and Lore declined to comment.
One investor who was approached about the deal rejected the offer, saying it seemed “pretty desperate” and likening it to a “down round” when a company is forced to reduce its previous valuation to raise cash.
Earlier this week, Wonder confirmed that it received a $100 million investment from Nestlé. Wonder has also entered into a strategic partnership with the food giant to sell high-tech kitchen equipment and prepared food ingredients to companies such as hotels, hospitals and sports stadiums. CNBC reported.
The $100 million investment was described as a “cash infusion,” with Lore adding that the money would help Wonder scale its business.
Nestlé will begin offering Wonder kitchen equipment to its foodservice customers.
In late September, Lore’s company announced it would buy meal kit company Blue Apron for $103 million.
Lore said the deal would help Wonder achieve its goal of creating a “super app” for high-end food delivery.
Initially, Wonder had planned to create a nationwide network of food trucks with menus inspired by celebrity chefs such as Bobby Flay and Marcus Samuelsson.
The company I had abandoned those plans last January, and laid off hundreds of workers, as part of a shift toward a more traditional and profitable food delivery business model that uses brick-and-mortar restaurants.
lore recently he told trade publication Restaurant Business that Wonder’s three active locations at the time were not yet profitable, but were poised to generate nearly $4 million in sales this year.
Wonder plans to have 10 stores open by the end of the year.
Lore boldly claimed that there could eventually be as many as 7,000 locations nationwide.
In September, Wonder lost its chief operating officer, Stephen Goldstein, who stepped down after less than a year on the job.
As The Post exclusively reported at the time, Goldstein took on a new role as president of Kernel, the plant-based automated fast food startup led by Chipotle founder Steve Ells.
Lore had just taken steps to strengthen Wonder’s leadership team, adding former Sweetgreen marketing chief Daniel Shlossman as chief marketing officer in May and former Blackstone executive Kelley Morrell as its chief financial officer in June, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Elsewhere, owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves Glen Taylor said in October that he believed Lore and Alex Rodriguez were pushing back their deadline to increase their ownership of the team from 40 percent to 60 percent from December to early next year.
He said they had assured him they had the money.
