Food delivery investors: 7 VCs actively funding delivery startups

The food delivery sector continues to attract substantial venture capital despite market consolidation. Foodtech was the 7th most funded industry in 2023, receiving over $12 billion in venture capital funding. However, founders must understand that foodtech has seen a stronger slowdown than most other sectors, with a 53% funding drop from the previous year.

This guide provides current information on active food delivery investors, their investment criteria, and practical strategies for securing capital.

Food delivery investment landscape

The food delivery market has undergone significant transformation since the pandemic. In Q1 2024, food tech startup funding fell by 50%, while AI startups captured 70% of venture capital investments.

Despite these headwinds, certain segments remain attractive to investors. Alternative protein companies are attracting investor interest, with Liberation Bioindustries raising $52 million and Vivici securing $33.8 million in funding.

The market is shifting toward later-stage investments with proven unit economics. Ghost kitchens, which raised over $3 billion between 2020-2022, have seen funding dry up as the business model proved challenging at scale.

Current market dynamics

Food delivery investors now prioritize companies that demonstrate clear paths to profitability. The days of growth-at-all-costs funding have ended. Investors want to see positive unit economics, sustainable customer acquisition costs, and defensible competitive advantages.

DoorDash acquired Deliveroo for $3.9 billion in May 2025, signaling continued consolidation in the sector. This creates opportunities for niche players and technology enablers that support the broader ecosystem.

7 Top food delivery investors

Sequoia Capital

Investment focus: Series A to growth stage companies across food delivery, logistics technology, and marketplace platforms

Check size: $5M-$50M+ depending on stage

Geographic focus: Global, with strong presence in North America and Asia

Sequoia Capital backed DoorDash from its 2014 Series A through its 2020 IPO at a $72 billion valuation. The firm recently announced $950 million in new early-stage funds, including a $750 million early-stage fund targeting Series A startups and a $200 million seed fund.

The firm looks for founders with deep operational expertise and companies that can achieve market leadership. Sequoia emphasizes investing in the most promising founders at the beginning of their startup-building journey, with recent seed and Series A investments in companies that have appreciated manyfold.

Portfolio companies: DoorDash (on-demand delivery service), Instacart (instant grocery delivery from local stores)

Recent activity: Sequoia recently wrote the first check into companies like security tester Xbow, AI reliability engineer Traversal, and DeepSeek alternative Reflection AI, all of which have since raised significant capital at much higher valuations.

Contact: Sequoia accepts submissions through their website at https://www.sequoiacap.com. The firm evaluates deals through warm introductions from their portfolio companies and network.

How to pitch them: Send your pitch deck through Ellty. Track when Sequoia partners view your materials and which sections they spend the most time reviewing. This intelligence helps you time follow-ups effectively. Never send attachments directly via email to major institutional investors like Sequoia.

Khosla Ventures

Investment focus: Seed to Series B in food delivery, logistics automation, alternative proteins, and food technology infrastructure

Check size: $500K-$15M for early stage, up to $50M for growth rounds

Geographic focus: Primarily North America

Founded by Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures is known for making early capital investments in startups such as Impossible Foods, Instacart, Affirm, DoorDash, Square and OpenAI.

Khosla Ventures' Keith Rabois led DoorDash's $2.4 million round alongside Charles River Ventures' Saar Gur in 2013. The firm continued supporting DoorDash through subsequent rounds before its public offering.

What makes Khosla unique is their willingness to lead early rounds with conviction. Founded by Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures thrives on bold, frontier technologies with a willingness to lead early rounds, backing high-risk, high-reward innovators across sectors.

Portfolio companies: DoorDash (delivery company), Impossible Foods (meat replacement maker), Instacart (grocery delivery service)

Recent activity: In October 2024, the firm raised a special purpose vehicle of $405 million to invest in OpenAI. The firm maintains active interest in food technology intersecting with AI and automation.

Contact: Khosla Ventures maintains offices in Menlo Park, California. They prefer warm introductions through their network but will consider cold outreach from exceptional founders with strong traction.

Investment criteria: They look for 10x improvements over existing solutions, not incremental changes. Your food delivery innovation must demonstrate clear technological or operational advantages. Show them how you're building infrastructure for the future, not just another delivery app.

S2G Ventures

Investment focus: Multi-stage investments from seed to growth in sustainable food systems, supply chain innovation, and food-as-medicine

Check size: $1M-$25M across stages

Geographic focus: North America with select international investments

S2G invests holistically across the food system in market-based solutions that help improve environmental and human health outcomes. The firm differentiates itself through impact-focused investing that doesn't sacrifice returns.

S2G took an innovative approach to food delivery by investing in Mealogic, which handles everything from e-commerce to food production to delivery for its more than 40 clients. Mealogic raised $16 million in a deal led by S2G Investments.

The firm actively supports portfolio companies post-investment. S2G Ventures (Seed 2 Growth) is a multi-stage food and agriculture venture fund investing in entrepreneurs whose products and services meet the shifting demands for healthy and sustainable food, making investments spanning the entire food supply chain from soil to shelf.

Portfolio companies: Beyond Meat, Sweetgreen, Apeel Sciences, Mealogic

Recent investments: AF Ventures (formerly AccelFoods) invested in Starship Technologies, a robotic food delivery company, which raised $50 million in its Series C financing round in October 2025.

Contact: S2G Ventures operates from Chicago and San Francisco. Reach them at https://www.s2ginvestments.com

The firm evaluates opportunities through their thesis-driven approach to food system transformation. They want to see how your delivery model contributes to healthier, more sustainable outcomes.

AF Ventures (formerly AccelFoods)

Investment focus: Emerging growth-stage consumer brands across food & beverage, health & wellness

Check size: $250K-$5M

Geographic focus: United States

AF Ventures, formerly known as AccelFoods, is a New York-based venture capital firm dedicated to backing high-growth consumer product companies, with a strong emphasis on food and beverage brands. Since its founding in 2014, AF Ventures has carved out a niche in identifying challenger brands that combine strong fundamentals with innovative approaches to consumer engagement.

The firm provides more than capital. They offer operational support, retail connections, and go-to-market expertise that early-stage food companies desperately need.

Portfolio companies: Cirkul, ByHeart, Jinx, and Siete Foods

Investment approach: AF Ventures looks for brands with authentic stories, strong unit economics, and potential for omnichannel distribution. They invest in companies with $1M-$15M in revenue that need capital to scale operations and expand distribution.

Contact: AF Ventures is located at 1412 Broadway, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10018. Their website is https://www.afventures.vc

What they want to see: Upload your pitch deck to a virtual data room like Ellty before reaching out. Include detailed sales data from existing channels, customer cohort analysis, and realistic projections based on comparable brands in their portfolio. They'll want to see your retail velocity data and reorder rates.

Blue Horizon

Investment focus: Alternative proteins, sustainable food systems, cellular agriculture, smart packaging

Check size: €5M-€50M

Geographic focus: Europe and North America

Blue Horizon's mission is to accelerate the transition to a Sustainable Food System that delivers outstanding returns for humans and the planet, generating impact with a philosophy called Double Positive — positive, above-market returns for people and positive, measurable impact for the planet, humans and animals.

Blue Horizon Ventures announced €183 million final close of its first fund in January 2021, attracting over 100 private, corporate and institutional investors, including the European Investment Fund (EIF).

Portfolio companies: Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, JUST Egg

Recent activity: As of September 2024, Blue Horizon is an active investor, having invested in 90 companies, with 1 new investment in the last 12 months. It recently led the $30 million Series A round of WOW EARN along with Pinnacle Ventures.

Contact: Blue Horizon operates from Zurich, Switzerland at https://bluehorizon.com

Selection criteria: Blue Horizon evaluates companies based on measurable environmental and social impact alongside financial returns. They look for businesses that can scale sustainably and outperform conventional alternatives. If your food delivery model reduces carbon emissions or addresses food waste, quantify these metrics in your pitch.

First Beverage Group

Investment focus: Exclusively beverage companies with proven market traction

Check size: $2M-$15M

Geographic focus: United States

Revenue requirements: Companies with $1M-$15M in annual revenue

First Beverage Group operates as both an investment bank and private equity fund. First Beverage Group, established in 2005, is a Los Angeles-based firm that provides investment banking and private equity services to beverage companies, offering advisory and investment services to help these companies grow and succeed in the competitive beverage industry.

The firm has deep operational expertise in beverage manufacturing, distribution, and retail partnerships. They understand co-packing relationships, slotting fees, and the complexities of beverage distribution that general tech investors miss.

Portfolio companies: Health-Ade (kombucha brand), G FUEL (energy supplements), Essentia Water, Project Juice

Recent activity: First Beverage Group acquired a controlling stake in Health-Ade on July 22, 2025.

Contact: First Beverage Group operates from Los Angeles with additional offices in Boston and New York. Connect with them through https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-beverage-group

Investment criteria: They require sustainable growth and profit margins. Your beverage delivery concept must show proven demand with $1M+ in revenue. They will not invest in pre-revenue businesses. Prepare detailed financial statements, retail velocity data by channel, and supply chain documentation.

Softbank Vision Fund

Investment focus: Large growth-stage investments in logistics, delivery platforms, and food technology infrastructure

Check size: $100M-$1B+

Geographic focus: Global

SoftBank made massive bets on food delivery during the 2018-2021 period. SoftBank Vision Fund participated as an existing backer in DoorDash's $600 million Series G round that valued the company at $12.6 billion.

The fund also invested heavily in ghost kitchens. Reef Technology raised $1.5 billion in two rounds led or co-led by SoftBank in late 2018 and 2020.

Portfolio companies: DoorDash, Uber, DoorDash, numerous international delivery platforms

Current status: SoftBank has significantly pulled back from new food delivery investments following portfolio company struggles. Reef Technology is now reportedly working with restructuring advisers after laying off hundreds of staff in 2022.

Investment approach: SoftBank targets category-defining companies with massive addressable markets. They write large checks for companies already generating substantial revenue. Unless you're doing $100M+ annually with clear paths to market dominance, you're not a SoftBank prospect.

Contact: SoftBank evaluates deals through their investment team in multiple global offices. Warm introductions from their portfolio companies or major institutional investors are essential.

How to approach food delivery investors

Never send PDF attachments

Investors receive hundreds of pitch decks monthly. PDF attachments get buried in email inboxes. Instead, use a virtual data room like Ellty to:

• Create trackable links for your pitch deck
• See exactly when investors open your materials
• Track which slides they spend the most time reviewing
• Receive notifications when they forward your deck internally
• Revoke access after specific timeframes

This intelligence transforms your fundraising process. When you know a partner spent 5 minutes on your unit economics slide, you can address pricing strategy in your follow-up.

Research before reaching out

Each investor has specific criteria. Review their portfolio companies before sending your deck. Reference their existing investments and explain how your company complements or extends their thesis.

Bad approach: "We're raising a seed round for our food delivery startup."

Better approach: "I noticed you led DoorDash's Series A in 2014. We're solving the last-mile logistics problem they didn't address - serving food deserts in suburban markets with population density too low for traditional delivery economics. Our robotics-enabled delivery reduces costs by 60%."

Build relationships before you need them

The best time to connect with investors is before you're fundraising. Attend industry events, request informational calls, and share relevant insights about market trends. When you need capital, you'll have warm relationships instead of cold emails.

Understand check sizes and stages

Don't pitch Series A investors when you need a $500K seed round. Research each firm's typical investment size and stage focus. Wasting partner time on mismatched deals damages your reputation.

Prepare comprehensive data

Food delivery investors want detailed metrics:

• Customer acquisition cost by channel
• Lifetime value by cohort
• Order frequency and basket size trends
• Delivery cost per order
• Restaurant take rate and satisfaction scores
• Driver economics and retention
• Unit economics by market

Upload these materials to your virtual data room so investors can access them on-demand. Update regularly as metrics improve.

Common mistakes founders make

Mistake 1: Ignoring unit economics

Several ghost kitchen startups struggled to reach profitability, with digital commerce generally not being incredibly profitable, especially because companies have to source delivery and labor.

Investors watched billions evaporate in ghost kitchens and rapid delivery startups that never achieved sustainable unit economics. Your pitch must demonstrate clear paths to profitability at scale.

Mistake 2: Comparing yourself to DoorDash

DoorDash raised over $2.5 billion before going public. Their success required perfect timing, massive capital, and network effects most startups cannot replicate. Instead, focus on specific niches or innovations that established players can't easily copy.

Mistake 3: Underestimating operational complexity

Food delivery involves restaurants, drivers, customers, and logistics technology. Each component has different economics and failure points. Investors have seen countless founders underestimate these challenges. Address operational risks explicitly in your pitch.

Mistake 4: Pitching technology investors on consumer plays

Food delivery is operationally intensive. Pure technology investors often don't understand restaurant economics, driver management, or food safety regulations. Target investors with food industry expertise who grasp these complexities.

Mistake 5: Ignoring competitive dynamics

As of the end of 2025, DoorDash operates in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and via its international subsidiaries Deliveroo and Wolt across 45 countries worldwide. The market is dominated by well-funded competitors with existing customer bases.

Explain why your specific approach creates defensible differentiation. "Better UX" or "superior technology" won't convince investors you can compete with companies spending hundreds of millions on customer acquisition.

Successful fundraising strategies

Strategy 1: Focus on underserved markets

The order-only model works best when you focus on underserved markets. Target suburban areas ignored by major platforms, specialize in niche cuisines underrepresented locally, or offer significantly better commission rates than competitors.

Major platforms focus on dense urban markets with high order volumes. Find geographic or demographic niches where existing solutions fail to serve customers effectively.

Strategy 2: Build with existing infrastructure

Coco Robotics, a Los Angeles-based food delivery startup, raised $80 million from VC firms and angel investors, including Sam Altman. The company integrates with existing delivery platforms rather than building everything from scratch.

Partner with established players where possible. Investors prefer business models that leverage existing infrastructure rather than rebuilding the entire stack.

Strategy 3: Demonstrate strong unit economics early

Show profitability in your initial markets before expanding. Investors will fund geographic expansion of a proven model much more readily than unproven concepts burning cash in multiple markets simultaneously.

Calculate your customer lifetime value, payback period, and contribution margin per order. These metrics matter more than total revenue for early-stage companies.

Strategy 4: Emphasize technology moats

Tastewise, an AI marketing platform for food and beverage companies, raised a $50 million Series B round. Technology that solves specific problems for food companies attracts investor interest.

Pure delivery plays face intense competition. But technology platforms that improve efficiency for restaurants, reduce delivery costs, or enhance customer matching have defensible advantages.

Strategy 5: Track everything with data rooms

Modern fundraising requires sophisticated tracking. Create a secure data room with:

• Pitch deck with version control
• Detailed financial models
• Customer case studies
• Competitive analysis
• Technology demonstrations
• Team backgrounds

Share one link with investors instead of multiple attachments. See exactly which materials they review and for how long. This intelligence helps you understand investor concerns before your next meeting.

Update materials regularly as your metrics improve. Investors checking back weeks later should see your progress.

Conclusion

Food delivery remains attractive to investors despite recent market contractions. Despite difficult fundraising conditions, alternative protein companies are attracting investor interest and succeeding in M&A.

Success requires matching your company stage and thesis to appropriate investors, demonstrating strong unit economics, and using professional tools to manage the fundraising process.

Create your free Ellty data room today to start tracking investor engagement. See exactly when investors view your pitch deck, which slides capture their attention, and receive notifications when they forward your materials internally. This intelligence transforms your fundraising conversations.

Investors expect professional presentation. Secure data rooms signal that you understand enterprise sales processes and take investor relationships seriously. The alternative - email attachments and untracked PDFs - marks you as inexperienced.