Blue Apron Announces Co-Founder Matthew Salzberg's Resignation From Board

A flurry of changes has taken place in the foodservice delivery sector as Blue Apron’s Matthew B. Salzberg, the company’s Co-Founder and Board Chair, has announced his resignation from the Company’s Board of Directors. In addition, Director Barry Salzberg has announced his resignation from the Board. All this stems from the company’s announcement of $78 million in a planned equity capital raise, which includes a $45 million fully backstopped rights offering and sale of shares and warrants for $33 million.

According to Blue Apron’s latest release, the company’s planned equity capital raise included a $45.0 million fully backstopped rights offering to holders of its Class A common stock and holders of certain warrants to purchase Class A common stock, a private placement with the backstop provider (an entity affiliated with Joseph N. Sanberg) for gross proceeds of $30.0 million. Additionally, a closing of a $3.0 million private placement with Matthew Salzberg was mentioned.

The company has entered into a purchase agreement with RJB Partners LLC, a Class A stockholder and an affiliate of Sanberg and Matthew Salzberg. Sanberg proposed an investment of up to $75.0 million in the company in the form of a private placement and agreed to make $45.0 million of the investment available to the company’s existing stockholders and to backstop that amount in full.

Some initial plans for the investment include:

• Accelerating the growth strategy to drive revenue and customer growth
• Building a framework to establish an ESG program and advance sustainability goals, including achieving carbon neutrality targets by early 2022
• Increasing wages, benefits, and training for its hourly employees

With the investment comes some Board changes. Matthew Salzberg and Barry Salzberg have resigned from the company’s Board of Directors to focus on their other Board roles and business interests. Blue Apron’s Board has appointed Jennifer Carr-Smith, a current independent Board Member, to succeed Matthew Salzberg as Board Chair.

Because the company must register the rights offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), no record date has been set yet. Additional information about the proposed rights offering and related transactions will be contained in the registration statement and in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC, including a copy of the purchase agreement.

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