Several NBA, NFL Players Invest In Catering Company Hungry’s Series C1 Funding Round

Several professional athletes recently participated in a $10 million Series C1 funding round for Hungry, a food technology startup that primarily partners with chefs and restaurants to cater corporate dining and events.Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith and Houston Texans tackle Laremy Tunsil were among the rounds investors. It lets those new investors all get a good deal, too.Grass and brothers Eman and Shy Pahlevani founded Hungry in 2017 as a way for companies to offer affordable, quality food to their employees. The three had previously founded LiveSafe, a mobile safety platform that Vector Solutions acquired in October 2020.Hungry launched in Washington, D.C., and expanded to four more cities over the next three years, generating multiple millions of dollars in sales, according to Grass. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, the companys revenue plummeted because people were no longer working from their offices and shared meals were discouraged.Over the following year, Hungry pivoted to creating an online events business where companies could hire chefs and have them perform cooking demonstrations for their employees as a fun, team-building exercise or for their clients as a way to entertain them. Hungry also got into the logistics and delivery space, partnering with meal preparation companies.Today, Hungry is in 13 cities: Austin, Texas; Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Los Angeles; New York City; Oakland, Calif.; Philadelphia; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; Santa Clara, Calif.; and Washington, D.C.Hungry generates most of its revenue from its core catering business with recurring daily or weekly lunches accounting for about two-thirds of sales and one-off events accounting for the remaining one-third.