Marc Lore Proves You Don’t Need an AI Angle to Raise Money

Who says it’s hard for startups to raise capital? Marc Lore’s success in raising $600 million—in addition to $100 million he is contributing—for his restaurant startup, Wonder, is nothing short of stunning. As Lore acknowledged in a CNBC interview today, the fundraising wasn’t easy, given that most startups raising money nowadays are in artificial intelligence. There’s no AI angle to Wonder. In fact, there doesn’t even seem to be a tech angle. Wonder is basically a vertically integrated restaurant and meal-delivery service. 

Its secret sauce, so to speak, is that by making the food itself, Wonder can let people choose from numerous different cuisines—Chinese, BBQ, Indian, burgers, pizza, you name it—when they order. That’s cool, but still, how innovative is it really? Check out the Cheesecake Factory’s wide-ranging menu. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. As today’s fundraising demonstrates, Lore has lined up an expansive cast of backers, ranging from venture names such as NEA and Accel to food giant Nestlé and American Express to investors specializing variously in insurance, private equity and companies associated with University of Pennsylvania graduates or faculty. If Wonder succeeds, investors in the latest round could do well. In this round, Wonder used a type of investment, the SAFE note, most commonly seen with early-stage startups, that offers investors a discount on the valuation at which the company goes public.