Seattle chef Joel Gamoran is raising more money to fuel his passions in the kitchen, including his dream of creating a product around “culinary medicine” to help people stay healthy through his cooking classes.
We spotted a new SEC filing Monday that revealed more investment for Homemade. Gamoran, founder and CEO of the Seattle startup, told GeekWire he’s raised about $1.5 million of a new funding round. The cash will be used to bolster ongoing projects and jumpstart new ones.
Homemade streams live, free cooking classes to a global audience, attracting as many as 3,500 viewers during shows that teach people how to make everything from happy hour bites to burgers to all kinds of desserts.
“We just continue to see the numbers go up, and the engagement on those classes just continue to grow,” Gamoran said, adding that 98% of viewers stay until the end of a 45-minute class. More than 4 million people have viewed Homemade’s online classes.
The startup also produced its first season of a cooking series for PBS called “Homemade Live!” that is shot in front a studio audience at the company’s headquarters along the Seattle waterfront. The new funding will help with putting season two together this summer.
Gamoran, who has worked in restaurants, written a book and traveled the country leading classes for Sur La Table, said his dream, and the big focus of raising cash, is to help get a product built around “culinary medicine.”
The goal is to help people who are diagnosed with a certain illness, such as diabetes, develop healthier eating habits.
“Instead of being prescribed medicine, per se, you’re prescribing cooking classes,” Gamoran said. “We really see a future where we can empower people to stay healthy. If we can target specific issues that are hurting people and making them sicker, if we can get them to cook whole foods in a responsible way, there’s a big win there.”
Gamoran envisions taking such a product to partners in preventative health such as health care providers or insurers.
Homemade is still a relatively small team of five employees plus a sizable group of contractors. The company added Ben Friedman as COO and Lauren Locke as head of brand partnerships.
And Homemade content is now available as free content on Alaska Airlines.
“I’m a nervous flyer, so watching cooking classes up in the air is perfect for me,” Gamoran said.
