My Foodie Box had a cracking debut on the ASX, before reality bites on day 2

My Foodie Box listed on ASX on Friday, making an impressive public debut with its shares closing up 25% on their first day of trade.

The three-year-old subscription startup (ASX: MBX) raised $6 million at $0.20 per share, with the parent company behind the ANZ distributor of the $2000 cult kitchen device Thermomix, Magnet Investments, which has taken a $2 million, 15% strategic stake in My Foodie Box, which had a market cap on listing of around $13.4 million.

$MBX shares hit an intraday high of $0.265, a 32.5% premium to the IPO price during Friday trade before settling at $0.25 at close. On Monday, those initial gains faded with the shares falling 8% to $0.23.

The subscription food and logistics technology business launched three years ago in January 2019 and now has more than 1,650 active subscribers. Much like HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, YouFoodz, The Dinner Ladies, My Foodie Box provides meal kits to Western Australian households, but its focus is local ingredients sourced from ethically responsible local farmers and producers.

The meal kits are offered on a weekly subscription-based model with a price per meal of around $8-$13 plus delivery. In addition to meal kits,  other kitchen staples such as milk, eggs, olive oil, butter, fruit and snack boxes can also be added to a delivery.

The raise from the IPO is earmarked for a growth strategy, including enhanced marketing activities and developing its technology platform. The business is also looking to expand both its offerings and markets.

Magnet Investments subsidiary The Mix Australia, which distributes of the Thermomix in ANZ has been in discussions with My Foodie Box about cross-selling to their respective subscriber bases as well as joint market and product development, but a deal has yet to be hammered out.

My Foodie Box CEO Parisrat (Mai) Hughes said the listing kickstarted a big year for the business.

“We commenced operations in 2019 with a vision and a firm belief that this business is capable of achieving great success. Now in 2022, MBX is a public listed company with a strengthened balance sheet courtesy of our IPO,” he said.

“Our growth to date has been achieved with a limited budget, and we will now look to deploy these funds to accelerate and implement our growth strategy.”