Fridge No More

Fridge No More was a Brooklyn-based rapid grocery delivery startup founded in 2020 by Pavel Danilov and Anton Gladkoborodov.⁵⁸ The company raised $16.5 million across two funding rounds and expanded to over 30 locations in New York and Boston.⁵¹² Fridge No More permanently shut down in March 2022 after acquisition talks with DoorDash fell through and it ran out of cash.^12345712

Timeline

Money raised

Fridge No More raised a $1.5 million seed round in October 2020.⁵⁸ The seed round included investments from AltaIR Capital, AltaClub, the Bratte fund, Natalya Vodyanova, Evgeny Fuksman, and several angel investors.⁸ Fridge No More raised a $15.4 million Series A in March 2021.²⁵⁸ The Series A was led by Insight Partners with participation from AltaIR Capital and other investors.⁵⁸ Startup Intros reported that Fridge No More raised a total of $16.5 million across two funding rounds.⁵ Pavel Danilov stated that around $35 million of investor money had gone into the company.¹²

Investors named in the sources: Insight Partners⁵⁸, AltaIR Capital⁵⁸, Evgeny Fuksman⁵⁸, Natalya Vodyanova⁵⁸, Blisce⁵, FirstMark Capital⁵, Flybridge Capital Partners⁵, Footwork⁵, Highland Capital Partners⁵, Left Lane Capital⁵, Maveron⁵, Norwest Venture Partners⁵, Phenomen Ventures⁵, Thirty Five Ventures⁵, Giovanni Gardelli⁵.

What happened

Fridge No More was founded in March 2020 by Pavel Danilov and Anton Gladkoborodov.⁵⁸ The company was based in Brooklyn, New York.⁵⁸ Fridge No More promised grocery delivery within 15 minutes with no order minimums and no delivery fees.²⁵⁸ The company operated cloud stores stocked with over 2,000 items.⁵⁸ Fridge No More used a proprietary data platform for inventory and order management.⁵⁸

The company began its first deliveries in October 2020.⁸ Fridge No More initially opened stores in Williamsburg and Park Slope.⁸ In October 2020, Fridge No More raised a $1.5 million seed round.⁵⁸ The seed round included investments from AltaIR Capital, AltaClub, the Bratte fund, Natalya Vodyanova, Evgeny Fuksman, and several angel investors.⁸ By March 2021, Fridge No More had more than 2,000 customers.⁸

In March 2021, the company reported averaging 200 orders per day with an average cart size of $40.²⁸ Fridge No More raised a $15.4 million Series A in March 2021.²⁵⁸ The Series A was led by Insight Partners.⁵⁸ The funding was intended to expand the engineering and operations team and create new offices.⁸ Fridge No More planned to create 40 additional delivery points in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens.⁸

By fall 2021, Fridge No More had grown to more than 30 locations.² The company expanded to Boston as well as New York.¹² Fridge No More focused on expanding its produce selection to drive repeat purchases.² The company experienced issues with break-ins and theft of bikes and equipment.² In January 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that Fridge No More lost $78 on the average customer when costs like advertising, storage, and courier expenses were taken into account.²

Fridge No More began exploring acquisition talks with DoorDash in January 2022.² DoorDash pulled out of the deal in March 2022.²³⁴ Fridge No More permanently shut down on March 10, 2022, as it ran out of cash.^12345712 All 600 employees lost their jobs when the company shut down.² Pavel Danilov stated that he worked for almost a year on liquidation after the shutdown.¹²

Danilov said he paid all salaries and taxes and negotiated with suppliers and real estate during liquidation.¹² Danilov stated that around $35 million of investor money had gone into the company and nothing came back out of it.¹² Fridge No More had $40 million in revenue across 30 dark stores in New York and Boston between 2020 and 2022, according to Danilov.¹² Danilov said the main problem was courier-related costs, as couriers were paid per hour.¹² Danilov said every new store started from zero and needed to reach breakeven, and growth stacked losses.¹²

Danilov said the model was never self-funding and required extra capital injections.¹² Four Seasons Produce, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Fridge No More Inc., Pavel Danilov, Anton Gladkoborodov, and Kerry Springer on March 14, 2022.¹³¹⁴ CM Vantage Specialty Company filed a lawsuit against Fridge No More, Inc., Barbara Bogart, and Lucas Pitts on August 8, 2022.¹⁵ The CM Vantage Specialty Company case was reported settled in mediation on January 6, 2023.¹⁵ The CM Vantage Specialty Company case was dismissed by stipulation on February 14, 2023.¹⁵

FNM (ABC), LLC was formed as an assignee for the benefit of creditors of Fridge No More, Inc. on April 12, 2022.¹⁶¹⁷

Legal outcomes

• filedFour Seasons Produce, Inc. filed a lawsuit against Fridge No More Inc., Pavel Danilov, Anton Gladkoborodov, and Kerry Springer on March 14, 2022.¹³¹⁴
• filedCM Vantage Specialty Company filed a lawsuit against Fridge No More, Inc., Barbara Bogart, and Lucas Pitts on August 8, 2022.¹⁵
• settledThe CM Vantage Specialty Company case was reported settled in mediation on January 6, 2023.¹⁵
• dismissedThe CM Vantage Specialty Company case was dismissed by stipulation on February 14, 2023.¹⁵

Where the founders are now

Pavel Danilov cofounded Bennudata in November 2022.¹² Bennudata is a software company focused on disaster recovery.¹² Bennudata raised a $400,000 pre-seed round as of December 2023.¹²

Sources

1. Two ultra-fast delivery startups shut down in one week | CNN Business, CNN, 2022-03-11
2. The rise and fall of 15-minute delivery startups, an oral history, Modern Retail, 2023-01-03
3. Grocery Startup Fridge No More Shutters in Failed ..., bloomberg.com, Mar 10, 20
4. Rapid delivery employees describe how their startup went from $17 million in funding and a DoorDash deal to a sudden and 'devastating' end, Business Insider, 2022-04-01
5. Fridge No More: Funding, Team & Investors, Startup Intros, Jul 13, 20
7. This rapid-delivery startup went from $17 million in funding to closing shop last month. Its cofounder describes what went wrong and why he still believes in the model., Business Insider, 2022-04-11
8. Grocery delivery service founded by Russians in New York attracted $15.4 million, TAdviser.com
12. $40M Grocery Shutdown to a $400K Data-Recovery Restart, getlatka.com, 2023-12-06
13. Verify That You Are Human, plainsite.org, Mar 14, 20
14. Four Seasons Produce, Inc. v. Fridge No More Inc. et al, dockets.justia.com
15. CM Vantage Specialty Company v. Fridge No More, Inc. et al (1:22-cv-04660), New York Eastern District Court, pacermonitor.com
16. ¨2¤? 87## %`«, veritaglobal.net, Mar 3, 202
17. VIRIDOS, INC.,1 Debtor. Chapter 11 Case No. 25-10697, cases.stretto.com, May 7, 202

How this case file was put together

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