Empower Investment
Shanghai, China
Overview
Empower Investment was founded in 2012 in Shanghai, China. Their investment covers early-stage ventures, mid-stage growth, and securities in the public market. With headquarters in Shanghai, the company established branch offices in Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Chengdu. Empower Investment has invested in over 150 high-tech and high-growth companies on a global scale covering regions including China, U.S, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Their portfolio companies include fast-growing industries such as internet, AI, big data, automation & robotics, financial technology, cultural creativity, advanced materials, and healthcare. The Empower team has extensive experience in both deep technologies and financial services including internet, computer science, electronic engineering, materials science, auditing and investment banking. Some team members were serial entrepreneurs. With candidness and empathy, the team is eager to find and partner with the most visionary, determined and down-to-earth entrepreneurs. It always brings great excitement and pleasure to build a bright future with them.
- Total investments
- 2
- Lead investments
- 1
- Investments · 12mo
- 0
- Active investors
- 8
Sector focus
- Finance
- Venture Capital
Investment portfolio
- SideChef
Participated · Series B · Mar 2023
SideChef offers a cooking, shopping and meal-planning app with more than 20,000 “smart recipes” and over 12,000 shoppable recipes that can be added to a cart for delivery or in-store pickup. The app is free to download and offers a $4.99 monthly premium tier with recipes from SideChef culinary experts; users can also upload and share their own recipes. SideChef has partnered with retailers and delivery services (Walmart, Instacart) and appliance makers including Sharp, GE and LG to embed step-by-step cooking and smart-kitchen features. The company says it doubled its revenue growth three years in a row, growth that was boosted by increased home cooking during the pandemic. New funding is intended to expand an end-to-end cooking platform and smart-kitchen technologies, including image-recognition devices for automated cooking and additional monetization via online grocery purchasing, contextual marketing and data insights. SideChef is a mobile cooking app that displays detailed photography and written instructions to guide users through recipes. The app offers more than 1,000 recipes sourced from over 100 food bloggers worldwide. Its recipe library covers diverse cuisines and accommodates special diets including gluten-free, vegan and low-fat options. Launched in March 2014 by CEO Kevin Yu, SideChef focuses on expanding its content and user reach. The company plans to use newly raised funds to create partnerships with various U.S. companies and to grow its network and content offerings, including cooking techniques.