Wise Apple
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Wise Apple was a Chicago-based meal delivery startup founded in 2015 by CEO Rebecca Sholiton. It delivered personalized, nutritionist-prepared, non-allergen subscription lunches for school kids directly to doorsteps - a stress-saving solution for parents packing lunches. Meals came in 5, 8 and 12-meal packages (about $6.50-$6.99 per meal). It raised about $7 million, including a $3.6 million seed round in August 2017 led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Levy Family Partners, with Chicago Ventures, Greycroft, BoxGroup and Irish Angels participating.
02 / Wise Apple FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Wise Apple never reached profitable scale. It operated in an intensely competitive meal-delivery market against Home Chef, Freshly and Plated, and its highly operational delivery model - preparing and shipping fresh personalized kids' lunches - was expensive to run. On June 27, 2018, PitchBook recorded it as 'Out of Business', and the Chicago Business Journal reported that the kids lunch delivery startup had shut down.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Rebecca Sholiton founds Wise Apple in Chicago, delivering personalized kids' lunches to doorsteps.
- Seed funding
In August 2017, Wise Apple raises $3.6 million in seed financing led by Pritzker Group and Levy Family Partners, bringing total funding to about $4.3 million.
- Shutdown
On June 27, 2018, Wise Apple shuts down; PitchBook records it as 'Out of Business'.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In 2015, Rebecca Sholiton founded Wise Apple in Chicago, delivering personalized nutritionist-prepared kids' lunches by subscription.
- 02
In August 2017, the company raised $3.6 million in seed financing led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Levy Family Partners.
- 03
On June 27, 2018, Wise Apple shut down; PitchBook recorded it as 'Out of Business'.