A former lawyer who became a business start-up entrepreneur launching a healthy home cooking app has closed a near-half-million-pound funding round.
Conor Boyle, 42, launched Plate Up, a free recipe-to-shop app tackling one of the UKโs most persistent household frustrations: deciding whatโs for dinner, having left the legal profession in 2021 to build his vision of making healthy home cooking accessible to all.
After bootstrapping the business through its early development, he has now secured a funding round that exceeded its ยฃ400,000 target in just six weeks, attracting a roster of high-profile investors from the retail, hospitality, and finance sectors.
Shareholders include Roger Burnley, former CEO of Asda, Michael Hughes, CEO of the OCU Group, and Mukid Chowdhury, CEO of Trading 212, alongside celebrity chefs Thom Bateman, Martyn Odell, Dean Edwards and James Wythe, who serve as both investors and brand ambassadors.
The round also brought on Zoe Collins, former Managing Director of the Jamie Oliver Group, as a creative and commercial advisor.
For most households, the biggest barrier to cooking at home isnโt the cooking itself, itโs the planning
Plate Up has built a community of more than 10,000 monthly active users and over 50,000 registered users, with thousands more joining each month. The app lets users choose from hundreds of recipes created by chefs including Tom Kerridge, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and Jade Greenhalgh, then delivers all the ingredients at supermarket prices via Sainsburyโs or Tesco, directly within the app. Conor insists a full weekly shop can be completed in three minutes.
Unlike subscription-based competitors, Plate Up is free, a commitment that sits at the heart his mission.
โAcross the UK, families are stuck choosing between options that are expensive, time-consuming, unhealthy, or all three,โ he said. โFor most households, the biggest barrier to cooking at home isnโt the cooking itself, itโs the planning. Plate Up removes that block entirely. No subscriptions, no mark-ups, no waste.โ
The new capital will be used to fund strategic retail and brand partnerships, enhance the appโs AI recipe recommendation algorithm, improve meal planning functionality, and expand its community cooking education initiatives.
And did his legal background help him in his new venture? Conor added: โMy experience advising clients on complex commercial deals prepared me for the challenges of building a business. The fact that industry leaders who have grown businesses with hundreds of millions to billions in revenue believe in our mission validates everything weโre building.โ
With the funding round closed and a growing advisor base, Plate Up is now firmly in its next stage of growth, with ambitions to reach hundreds of thousands of UK households and help families eat healthier, more affordably, with far less stress.
