Vegetable-based and natural food meal kit startup, Hungryroot, has raised a $3.7 million Series A from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Crosslink Capital, KarpReilly, and seed investor, Great Oaks Venture Capital, according to Specialty Food.

 

Similar to Blue Apron, Hungryroot offers portioned foods, however the New York-based company doesn’t require a subscription and focuses on producing vegetable-based versions of everyday foods that can be made in under seven minutes. Offerings include pastas made from carrots, celery root, sweet potatoes, beets, or rutabagas, almond chickpea cookie dough, black bean brownie dough, and maple chickpea pancake batter.

 

"The packaged food space is ready for disruption, particularly in the vegetable category,” Hungryroot CEO, Ben McKean said upon the company’s launch last year, reports Eater.com.  “Fresh vegetables typically have a short shelf life or require too much preparation, while frozen vegetables often sacrifice quality and nutrition for convenience. Hungryroot provides people with fresh, satisfying, full servings of vegetables that are ready in the time it takes to boil water.”

 

Currently the company’s products are only sold online, partnering with Amazon Fresh and Fresh Direct for shipping, however TechCrunch reports that the company is looking to expand into Whole Foods. To achieve this, Hungryroot is integrating the use of modified atmosphere packaging that will prolong the company’s products’ shelf life from 14 days from production to 21 days, according to the Wall Street Journal.

 

After a seed round of fundraising last year though which the company gained $2 million from investors Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and Mesa Ventures, this round brings Hungryroot’s total fundraising to $6 million.