Marc Lore’s ‘Super App of Mealtime’ Wonder Raises $700 Million

Wonder has raised $700 million to continue building “the super app of mealtime.”

Marc Lore, the serial entrepreneur and former Walmart executive who is founder, chairman and CEO of Wonder Group, announced the fundraise in a Tuesday (March 19) post on LinkedIn.

Wonder allows customers to order from 30 restaurants and have the meals brought to them within 30 minutes — all in one order, according to the company’s LinkedIn page.

The company launched in January 2023 with a location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and now has 11 locations in New York City, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Lore wrote in a blog post on LinkedIn.

It offers 350 menu items from 30 “fast fine” restaurants, according to the post.

“We are clearly on our way to building the super app for mealtime and fulfilling our mission of making great food more accessible,” Lore wrote in the blog post.

With the new funding, Wonder will invest in expansion, research and development (R&D) and driving unit economics, according to the post.

With the expansion, the company aims to have 35 locations in the Northeast by the end of 2024 and 90 by the end of 2025.

Its investment in R&D will focus on faster cook times, software enhancements, menu items, chefs and restaurant partnerships.

Wonder will also continue to invest in proprietary technology, aiming to reduce food waste, improve the throughput of its kitchens and enhance its delivery network.

“Customers love features like multi-restaurant ordering and we’ll have many exciting new products and partnerships to talk about soon,” Lore wrote in the blog post.

Wonder sees disproportionately high engagement with its direct ordering channels, which enables more data-gathering opportunities and in turn allows the brand to further strengthen those relationships, owning the transaction, Wonder Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Digital Officer Daniel Shlossman told PYMNTS in an interview posted March 4.

“Industry-wise, the bulk of a restaurant’s delivery business at most restaurants is built on the backs of the third-party marketplaces,” Shlossman said. “I think best-in-class digital [brands] have a really great first-party experience, and they’re able to have that direct customer relationship even on something like delivery.”