Whisk is a technology company.
Whisk has raised $1.0M across 1 funding round.
Whisk has raised $1.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Whisk has raised $1.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Whisk's investors include C2Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Red Swan Ventures, Vibranium.VC.
Whisk is a technology company that builds a smart food platform using AI, deep learning, and natural language processing (NLP) to enable recipe discovery, personalization, shopping list generation, and monetization of food content for brands, retailers, publishers, and consumers.[1][2][4] It serves major retailers like Walmart, Tesco, ASDA, Ocado, and Waitrose; publishers such as BBC, Food Network, Allrecipes, and About.com; and CPG brands including McCormick, Nestle, Unilever, and General Mills, solving the problem of disconnected food journeys by making recipes "shoppable," personalizing recommendations, and integrating with IoT devices like smart fridges to drive purchases from inspiration to preparation.[2][3][4] Acquired by Samsung Next in March 2019, Whisk powers experiences for over 100 million monthly users, with reported revenue of $7.9 million and a team of around 70 before acquisition, showing strong growth from early partnerships and expansions into 10 countries and 6 languages.[1][2][3]
Whisk was founded in 2012 by Nick Holzherr (CEO) in Birmingham, UK, initially as a grocery shopping app that turns recipes into digital shopping lists to bridge cooking inspiration and shopper action.[1][2][3][5][6] The idea emerged from recognizing the gap between recipe browsing and actual purchasing, leading to an award-winning mobile app launched around 2013 that quickly partnered with UK supermarkets and top recipe publishers.[3] Early traction accelerated with Midven funding, scaling from 2 to 20 employees, zero to partnerships with global giants like Allrecipes (1 billion annual visits), and 30 million monthly impressions across 300,000 sites; pivotal moments included Google Launchpad participation for UX improvements (yielding 30% user engagement boost) and cloud migration for global scalability.[3][6] By 2018, expansions into B2B platforms like WhiskAds and WhiskConnect for shoppable content set the stage for acquisition by Samsung Next in 2019.[2][4]
Whisk rides the food tech and AI personalization wave, capitalizing on rising demand for integrated e-grocery, meal planning, and health-focused apps amid online food delivery growth (e.g., Instacart competitors).[1][2][4] Timing aligned with 2010s mobile shopping booms and IoT adoption, enabling early dominance in recipe-to-purchase pipelines when publishers sought monetization beyond ads.[3][4] Market forces like CPG digital shifts, regulatory nutrition labeling needs, and post-pandemic grocery e-commerce (projected multi-billion scale) favor its data platform, influencing ecosystems by powering 100M+ users and setting standards for shoppable content that retailers and brands now emulate.[1][2][4][7]
Post-2019 Samsung acquisition, Whisk is positioned to expand AI-driven food experiences into emerging IoT, AR shopping, and personalized nutrition trends, potentially integrating deeper with Samsung ecosystems for global smart kitchen dominance.[2][4] Rising health tech, sustainable sourcing data, and voice/AI assistants will shape its path, amplifying influence as food platforms converge with wellness and e-commerce. As a pioneer linking inspiration to action, Whisk exemplifies how AI unlocks everyday decisions, evolving from app to foundational food intelligence layer.
Whisk has raised $1.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $1.0M Seed in September 2013.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2013 | $1.0M Seed | C2Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Red Swan Ventures, Vibranium.VC |