Elementaree

Elementaree is a Russian grocery kit delivery service. It delivers chopped ingredients for dishes, with cooking itself said to take 15 minutes. The startup was founded in 2013 by graduates of Harvard Business School Olga Zinovieva and Silard Buksha.

Performance indicators

2020

In 2020, Elementaree recorded a record business growth - the company's turnover exceeded 900 million rubles, which is almost twice as much as the previous year. The number of orders per month increased from 125 thousand in 2019 to 260 thousand in 2020. The number of regular customers increased to 37.8 thousand people, in 2019 there were 24.5 thousand of them.

2018: Revenue decrease by 19% to RUR 26.5 mln

Elementaree's revenue in 2018 decreased by 19% compared to the previous year and amounted to 26.5 million rubles, according to the Kontur. Focus database. Net profit was equal to 6.8 million rubles.

History

2023: Elementaree bought the Taste for Home service

On September 8, 2023, it became known about the sale of the Taste at Home service to a competitor, Elementaree. Financial and other parameters of the transaction are not disclosed. It is only known that Elementaree will transfer the customer base "Taste at Home," as well as the obligation to continue to provide the company's customers with kits. Read more here.

2021: Exit of Skolkovo Ventures from Elementaree, sale of shares to the head of Rusagro

As it became known in mid-February 2021, the Skolkovo Ventures fund left the Elementaree food delivery service, selling the share to the head of Rusagro Maxim Basov. Its participants did not disclose the financial component of the agreement.

It is only known that Basov's share in Elementaree will be a little more than 15%, and the entrepreneur will become the second largest shareholder in the service after its founder Olga Zinovieva.

Head of Rusagro Maxim Basov

Zinovieva, commenting on the deal, called Maxim Basov "one of the most experienced managers in Russia," whose "experience will be extremely useful for the development of the brand and business of the company as a whole." CEO of Rusagro is a member of the Board of Directors of Elementaree.

For Skolkovo Ventures, this deal was an opportunity to record profits from business growth over the past two years, which became possible, among other things, due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Pavel Morozov, managing partner of the fund, told Vedomosti. He clarified that "the fund came out with a double yield," without revealing the details.

The milkit segment is very promising today, - says Maxim Basov, commenting on the deal to increase his stake in Elementaree. - This market is growing organically without reference to the overall trend of growth in the popularity of the food delivery segment. The category of prepared sets of products with recipes covers many needs of citizens - delicious food, ease of cooking, availability.

According to Basov, in December 2020, the Elementaree service became profitable. It is in this direction that the startup's growth strategy will develop - to increase within its own profitability, he added.^[1]

2020

Attracting investments from the head of Rusagro

On September 11, 2020, the Elementaree service announced the attraction of investments from Rusagro CEO Maxim Basov, who acquired about 5% of the startup from his first investor Lawrence Lepard. The value of the transaction remained confidential.

The head of Infoline Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov, in a conversation with Kommersant, estimated 5% of Elementaree at least $1 million. According to the expert, Rusagro and Elementaree have the potential for synergy: the service receives a serious partner with a large-scale and diversified business, and the agro-industrial group has a new channel for selling and communicating with consumers, as well as the possibility of development in the rapidly growing foodtech market.

The head of Rusagro has invested in the delivery service of food sets with investments from RDIF and Bonduelle

The investment in Elementaree is a personal project not related to Rusagro, Basov explained.

Let's look at the concept. If it works, we will do big business, "he added.

As a shareholder, the head of Rusagro will also be responsible for attracting new investments, buying or selling company shares.

Elementaree relies on Basov's experience and recommendations "in determining the strategy for business development at the federal level." The new shareholder will coordinate the attraction of new investments in the business, the purchase or sale of the company's shares, the company said.

The founder and CEO of Elementaree Olga Zinovieva, commenting on the RBC deal, noted that in Russia traditionally people cook a lot at home: even in Moscow, people cook on average six out of seven dinners themselves, and at least a third of the products that are purchased in retail stores are used to prepare homemade dishes. Simple solutions, she said, in cooking are in demand among the generation of millennials who enter into active family consumption.

According to Infoline estimates, in 2019, food sets and ready-made diets accounted for about 16% of the online food sales market with a total turnover of 7 billion rubles.^[2][3]

Raising $5 million, including from RDIF

In early April 2020, it became known about the attraction of Elementaree investments in the amount of $5 million. The startup has invested in the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the French grocery manufacturer Bonduelle and an unnamed business angel. How much money each of the participants in the transaction provided is not reported. Also unknown are the resulting shares.

Elementaree intends to spend the funds received from investors on expanding production and service quality. Production areas are planned to be equipped with modern technological equipment.

It became known about the attraction of Elementaree investments in the amount of $5 million from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)

Earlier, the Skolkovo Ventures fund was invested in the company. They refrained from commenting on the request of Inc. and only noted that as an investor in the first round they very much believe in the success of the project, "especially within the framework of the current situation." The RDIF believes that investments in Elementaree should provide "support for a healthy lifestyle."

By the beginning of April 2020, the Elementaree service is present in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but by 2022 it plans to enter the markets of Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. Investments will also go to the development of offline sales channels.

Since its inception, the Elementaree service has raised a total of $8 million, according to data from the Crunchbase portal.^[4]

Notes