Wonder – the food delivery company founded by Marc Lore – announced it is buying media company Tastemade. The price was undisclosed, but The Wall Street Journal’s sources said it was for about $90 million.
Tastemade raised $131 million from several investors, including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Redpoint Ventures, Liberty Media, and Comcast Ventures.
Tastemade’s audience is estimated to be about 160 million followers across social platforms, and the company sees about 13 million monthly visitors through streaming channels.
Tastemade launched in 2012 and the company creates food and travel videos. The company runs a few free ad-supported TV channels. And this deal will give Wonder with access to a content studio, ad business, and production company. Wonder plans to utilize all of these assets for promoting its own brands.
This deal is another step towards Lore’s goal of creating a “super app” based on food. Lore was previously the head of e-commerce at Walmart – which happened after the retail giant bought his previous company, Jet.com, in a $3.3 billion deal.
Lore is interested in turning Wonder into an AI-driven app that recommends what to eat and can automatically order it for you from Wonder’s own kitchens.
Through this deal, users could potentially place a deliver order for a dish that was prepared by a chef on a Tastemade show.
Tastemade’s co-founders Larry Fitzgibbon and Steven Kydd will join Wonder and take on executive roles at the company. Fitzgibbon will also continue as CEO of Tastemade along with the title of EVP of Wonder Media, Advertising and Content. And Kydd will be the as co-founder, president, head of business development and International at Tastemade. Tastemade’s team will report to Daniel Shlossman, Wonder’s chief growth and marketing officer.
Wonder also previously acquired the renowned food brands Blue Apron and Grubhub.
