Cucumbertown

Cucumbertown was a food blogging platform that allowed users to publish and share recipes through a structured format. Founded in October 2012 by Cherian Thomas, Arun Prabhakar, Chris Luscher, and Dan Hauk, the company aimed to simplify the process of recipe blogging. The founders, located across India, Switzerland, and the US, brought together diverse expertise; Thomas was an ex-Zynga engineer, Prabhakar a software engineer, Luscher a partner at design firm Information Architects, and Hauk a theme designer for Tumblr.

The platform evolved from a simple recipe-sharing network into a comprehensive food blogging platform, providing tools like a specialized 'RecipeWriter' editor, analytics dashboards, and custom themes. This shift occurred after the team noticed successful bloggers leaving to start their own independent sites, identifying a market need for a dedicated platform that could also handle monetization. The business model was intended to be a 'Freemium' service, where basic use was free, and popular users could pay for additional services, with plans to pass on ad revenue to the bloggers, similar to the YouTube creator model.

Cucumbertown gained traction, attracting users from over 160 countries and securing angel funding from notable investors like Naval Ravikant and FarmVille co-creator Sizhao Zao Yang, followed by venture capital from Helion and Ludlow Ventures. In June 2015, the startup was acquired by Cookpad, Japan's largest recipe network, in a multi-million dollar deal. Despite the acquisition and plans for international expansion, the platform was shut down in 2016.

Keywords: food blogging, recipe sharing, culinary network, social cooking, digital recipes, food content platform, recipe publishing, online cookbook, kitchen community, food creators, cooking blog, recipe analytics, culinary technology, food tech, Cherian Thomas, Arun Prabhakar, Cookpad, structured recipes, recipe monetization, food community