Recipe box start-up Gousto raises additional $300,000 in angel investment

London-based recipe box company Gousto has today announced a further $300,000 funding from angel investors Ian West, senior independent director at TalkTalk and former BskyB managing director, alongside Rothschild vice chairman Andrea Raffel.

The deal sees West, who’s recent investments include Naked Wines and Pact Coffee, appointed as company board director to help support the growth of the subscription based ingredient delivery service.

Founded in 2012 by Timo Schmidt and James Carter, Gousto delivers customers boxed ingredients for specific recipes in their exact portions which it claims eliminates waste and promotes healthy eating.

The founders recently pitched the Gousto concept on the BBC show Dragons’ Den but left without investment after the Dragons expressed concern that the terms on offer would lead to conflict with existing investors.

Having originally attracted $500,000 in a deal led by the Angel CoFund, closely followed by a $2m round backed by MMC Ventures, the recipe start-up intends to use this latest investment to automate company operations and improve its in-house tech capabilities.

Gousto co-founder and CEO, Schmidt, said: “After a lot of hard work, it’s clear that we are now on an exciting journey to build the next big food brand.

“It’s great to be building on our momentum with the appointment of Ian West, who has substantial experience in this space, and James, the team and I are excited that he is putting his money where his mouth is.”

Gousto’s new board director, Ian West, continued:

“Within a short space of time, the Gousto team have managed to build the base of a very interesting business and food brand in a market segment that should grow significantly in the next period. Gousto’s platform is scalable to help fast innovation in this nascent market.”