Santa Clara, June 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virtual kitchen and E-commerce platform Saltalk has announced the completion of a US dollar $8 million Series A financing round. This round of investment attracted investment institutions including Foothill Ventures, GrubMarket, and Celtic House Asia Partners. The funding will help Saltalk work towards achieving its long-term goal of business growth.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, Saltalk (www.saltalk.com) is a platform that integrates virtual kitchens and e-commerce. Saltalk's upstream virtual kitchens and SaaS management services bring together food entrepreneurs and food supply resources. The company also combines downstream flexible meal selection and meal delivery services for end-users.
Regarding this round of financing, founder and CEO of Saltalk, Fred Ming, said: “We really appreciate the support and recognition from our investors. This round of financing will allow us to attract higher-quality talent and will see us continue to build new kitchens on the West Coast. Moving forward, the company will continue to provide enterprises and individual consumers with diversified, fresh, delicate, healthy, and hygienic high-quality dishes. Saltalk’s proprietary management systems, centralized procurement, and strong corporate customer base enable us to remain committed to improving the operational efficiency of merchants to reduce operational costs and truly create a win-win closed dining loop.
The lead investor in this financing round was Foothill Ventures. Founding Partner of Foothill Ventures and former Yahoo Engineering Vice President, Dr. Shao Xuhui, noted: “As a result of the pandemic, the food industry has undergone revolutionary changes in the past two years, driving major uptake in delivery-only and virtual kitchen service and making these concepts an important future component of the trillion-dollar food industry. The Saltalk team can fully capitalize on its strengths and background in the software industry to precisely control every link in the supply chain, kitchens, distribution channels, and sales to truly upgrade and optimize the food industry.
Managing Partner of Celtic House Asia Partners Chen Jie (CJ) said: “Some Silicon Valley companies are running more than 100 virtual kitchens, but their operational approach is almost as a second landlord, engaging in real estate investment. We are very optimistic about the Saltalk team for many reasons, including the founder’s technical background and understanding of the product, which will help companies respond to things like group meal purchases. Additionally, from the perspective of the entire market, virtual kitchens will have natural growth of nearly 30% annually.”
Five-Fold Growth 8 months After Strategic Upgrade
Saltalk currently offers over 200 dishes, including Asian, South American, European, and other cuisines, with the majority of dishes subject to regular updates and adjustments to best meet consumer demand. Due to corporate group pre-ordering of group meals and through proprietary route planning technology, meals are delivered quickly and on time, every time. In terms of
product sourcing, purchases are executed directly on the platform to guarantee top quality and best price. Users benefit from additional savings thanks to zero shipping fees, zero service fees, and zero tips on the platform.
Since its establishment in October 2017, Saltalk has achieved excellent results in Silicon Valley. With the support of its 8,000 square food virtual kitchen located in the South Bay, Saltalk has nearly 100 companies using its services in the Silicon Valley, each with stable customer bases themselves, clients such as ASML, Alibaba, Supermicro, Honda, etc. Since Saltalk’s strategic upgrade in September last year, in just eight months, Saltalk has achieved more than five-fold growth. Fred Ming, founder and CEO of Saltalk, explained that in the next two years, the company will also build two 15,000 square food virtual kitchens in the Silicon Valley and the Peninsula, which will support more catering brands to serve meals at the same time. A total of 15 virtual kitchens are expected to be established by the end of 2024, allowing for greater consumer coverage while replicating and expanding Saltalk’s current success.
About Saltalk
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, Saltalk is a platform that integrates virtual kitchens and food delivery services. Aiming to make it easier for food entrepreneurs to start a business, by creating virtual kitchens and SaaS management services, Saltalk works with food entrepreneurs to provide their customers with a variety of menu choices, fast meal delivery, high-quality ingredients, and low-cost services. The company’s founder and CEO Fred Ming, an immigrant to North America used to work as a software architect at the Shanghai headquarters of Telenav, an American navigation technology company, before relocating to the US in 2013. Ming’s vision in founding Saltalk has always strived to deliver the most authentic cuisine to its customers and positions itself as the Shopify of food ordering services.
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