Wonder raises $650M at $9B valuation, plans early-2025 IPO

Wonder's funding round caps a rapid expansion for Lore's food-tech venture since its 2018 founding. The company has raised approximately $3 billion（約4800億円） to date and has assembled an operating footprint centered on the Northeast, where it runs vertically integrated ghost-kitchen operations under licensed brand names—Bobby Flay Steak, Tejas Barbeque, and others—all coordinated through a single app. Lore has also made strategic acquisitions: Grubhub for $650 million（約1000億円） (early last year, including $500 million（約800億円） in assumed debt), Blue Apron for $103 million（約160億円） in 2023, Sweetgreen's Spyce division and Infinite Kitchen for $186.4 million（約300億円） in November, and Mighty Quinn's BBQ this week. This patchwork reflects Lore's pitch that Wonder can serve food to customers at price points and locations where traditional restaurant economics fail.

However, the IPO ratchet clause—which grants investors extra shares if Wonder's public debut prices below 1.5 times the current round's valuation—signals some tension in fundraising. The round fell short of Wonder's initial $11 billion（約1.8兆円） target, a detail first reported by The Information. More critically, the company's path to profitability appears uncertain: projected cash burn of nearly $2.7 billion（約4300億円） through 2029 and an expected adjusted EBITDA loss of roughly $618 million（約990億円） this year suggest the business is still in heavy investment mode. Lore argues that robotics and ingredient-library buildout suppress near-term profitability, and cites same-service-area sales growth of roughly 20% year over year as proof of underlying strength. Yet consumer-trust issues on Reddit—accusations of ghost-kitchen misrepresentation and allergen-label inaccuracy—add a reputational risk heading into a public listing.