Maple
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Maple was a New York meal-delivery startup founded in 2014 by Caleb Merkl and Akshay Navle, launched in April 2015. Unlike aggregator rivals, it owned the entire food cycle - sourcing ingredients, cooking meals in its own kitchens and delivering them - backed by David Chang of Momofuku as a culinary advisor and investor. The company raised $29 million from Thrive Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Primary Venture Partners and others. It shut down in May 2017, with its team and technology joining Deliveroo.
02 / Maple FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Maple's full-stack model was its fatal economics problem: it burned cash with nearly every meal it moved. Leaked 2016 documents showed a $9 million operating loss on $2.7 million of 2015 revenue, and expectations of deeper losses in 2016. Unable to make the unit economics work in its sole market, co-founders Merkl and Navle concluded they needed a partner with scale, closing Maple's New York operation in May 2017 and sending the team and technology to Deliveroo, which integrated them into its Editions platform.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Caleb Merkl and Akshay Navle founded Maple in New York as a full-stack meal-delivery company, with David Chang as investor and culinary advisor.
- Launch
Maple launched in Manhattan in April 2015, becoming popular for office lunches and raising $29 million in seed and Series A funding.
- Leaked losses
Leaked documents showed a $9 million operating loss on $2.7 million of 2015 revenue, with further losses expected in 2016.
- Shutdown and Deliveroo deal
Maple ceased operations in New York on May 8, 2017; co-founders, the CTO and much of the team joined Deliveroo, which absorbed Maple's technology into its Editions platform.
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
Founded 2014 in New York by Caleb Merkl and Akshay Navle; full-stack meal delivery (sourcing, cooking, delivery), with David Chang as backer and culinary advisor.
- 02
Launched April 2015; raised $29 million from Thrive Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Primary Venture Partners and others.
- 03
Leaked 2016 documents: $9 million operating loss on $2.7 million 2015 revenue.
- 04
May 2017: shut down the New York operation; team and technology joined Deliveroo (integrated into Deliveroo Editions).
- 05
No reliable loss figure disclosed; leaked pre-shutdown figures and raised funding are not recorded as losses.