Instant Brands, Vorwerk, and others invest in Fresco to establish the company as the neutral smart kitchen platform for the digital future
Fresco, the leading smart kitchen platform, today announced that it has closed $20 million in financing led by three international appliance brands; Instant Brands, Vorwerk, and a third that will be announced later as part of a new partnership. All of the company’s existing venture investors also participated. The funding will be used to build a world-leading experience for the connected kitchen.
Smart kitchen appliance users are projected to reach 248 million worldwide by 2027, according to Statista. The Fresco KitchenOS platform is designed to facilitate the transition to that future for both appliance makers and users. Fresco connects any compatible appliance–across brands–so that cooks can focus on preparing meals. The company has adopted the “connects with Fresco” brand to certify appliances that can be controlled from smartphones, tablets, smart speakers, and smart home assistants. Consumers can use the Fresco app to guide their cooking to prepare better and more creative meals.
“We know that every kitchen has appliances from different brands. Now through this Fresco platform, our partners are forming alliances across the whole kitchen, enabling the promise of the smart kitchen,” said Fresco co-founder and CEO Ben Harris. “To our appliance partners, Fresco provides end-to-end solutions to make any appliance smart: firmware; IoT modules; cloud services, and apps that pull it all together. Combined with the Fresco app, our step-by-step smart recipes inspire and guide home cooks to perfect results.”
Future partners will also be given the opportunity to invest in Fresco. The first cohort of appliance partners to invest includes leading appliance brands: Instant Brands, maker of the iconic Instant Pot; Vorwerk, the company behind fan-favorite, all-in-one multicooker Thermomix TM6; and a third major appliance manufacturer to be announced later in the year. These preeminent appliance manufacturers are investing in the Fresco KitchenOS because they believe the company is positioned to make the promise of the smart kitchen a reality.
“Instant Brands and Fresco are working together to develop innovative breakthroughs in the kitchen, and beyond,” said Ben Gadbois, CEO and President of Instant Brands. “This investment deepens our partnership further and supercharges these initiatives.”
Fresco will use the investment proceeds for working capital to expand its workforce and invest in improvement in its digital platform and related applications.
