Sign at the entrance to the Wonder store in Midtown Manhattan.
Erik McGregor | Light flare | Getty Images
Food startup Wonder has confidentially filed for an IPO, the company announced Thursday.
Created by serial entrepreneur Marc Lore in 2018, Wonder bills itself as “the best restaurants in the entire country, all in one place,” available for delivery and takeout on its vertically integrated app.
Originally conceived as a new approach to food delivery using sprinter vans equipped with mobile kitchens, Wonder has grown to approximately 170 brick-and-mortar locations across the United States. Its locations serve menu items from more than two dozen “restaurants” in a variety of cuisines, some with the branding of celebrity chefs.
Starting November 17, the company plans to introduce more dining options through Wonder Create. Influencers, entrepreneurs, and brands can pay $10 per month to start their own catering business based in a Wonder location and earn a portion of the revenue from orders.
Wonder has spent at least $1 billion on acquisitions, such as delivery service Grubhub, meal kit brand Blue Apron and delivery and logistics provider Relay, as well as a few buzzy restaurant concepts. Wonder was able to afford such expensive deals thanks to more than $3 billion in venture capital funding.
Wonder’s Series D fundraising earlier this year brought its pre-money valuation to $9 billion.
With proceeds from an IPO, Wonder will be able to make more acquisitions and work toward its goal of making food more accessible, Lore told CNBC in September.
But as a public company, Wonder will also likely face investor scrutiny. Weak consumer confidence has weighed on restaurant stocks recently, and market volatility has led to a fragile IPO market for companies in a variety of industries.
Lore previously founded Diapers.com and Jet.com, which he sold to Amazon and Walmart, respectively.
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