Cooking.com stirs up $13 million
Bon appetit for Cooking.com: The kitchen appliance retailer announced Wednesday that it has pulled in $13 million in venture funding in a round led by Azure Capital Partners. ORIX Venture Finance also contributed venture debt to the round, and Azure partner Michael Kwatinetz is now on the company's board of directors.
The new cash will be used toward a variety of goals at Cooking.com: expand editorial and social-networking operations on the site (a sound decision when it seems like everyone can't stop talking about Bobby Flay and Mario Batali), opening a new distribution center in Ohio, and allowing more Web sites to offer "Powered by Cooking.com" stores. That's something that some food-related brands already do, like Starbucks, Pillsbury, and the Food Network.
The Santa Monica, Calif.-based Cooking.com has been around since 1998, still alive and kicking despite the fact that retail leviathan Amazon.com has been selling cooking appliances for years now.
"We are excited to have new investment partners and funding, which will allow us to enrich the Cooking.com experience and brand," founder and CEO Tracy Randall said in a release, "and also further our goal to increasingly become a driving e-commerce force for some of the world's most visited culinary sites." In other words, just as many media companies are pushing their content out to multiple video-sharing sites, niche commerce sites are hoping to hook up with more retailers.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
