SpoonRocket hit an $8M run rate — and still starved in the on-demand winter

SpoonRocket came out of Y Combinator in 2013: chefs cooked meals in bulk in Berkeley, and cars with warming cases delivered them in under ten minutes for under $10. Investors including Foundation Capital, Base Ventures and Sherpa Capital put in $13.5 million.

The model reached a positive contribution margin and an $8 million revenue run rate — but overhead stayed high, and the on-demand funding climate turned frosty. A last-minute acquisition by a quick-service restaurant chain fell apart: 'all signs pointed to something getting done, but they pulled out,' co-founder Steven Hsiao said. Competing against deeper-pocketed services like Sprig on $13.5M, he admitted, was 'a challenging arena.'

On 15 March 2016 the founders told investors SpoonRocket was shutting down. There was no venture capital left to return; assets were liquidated to pay creditors, customers were pointed to Sprig with a discount, and rival Sprig hired many of the drivers. The next day Brazil's iFood bought the company's logistics technology.