Whirlpool Brings IoT to the Kitchen with Acquisition of Yummly

In the relentless push to digitize everything, Whirlpool announced it will be acquiring Yummly, a digital recipe platform provider.

Yummly allows its 20 million users to create shopping lists, order food, and even order kitchenware. It seems poised to be integrated into Whirlpool’s “kitchen of the future” plans, first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show. The concept involves connected appliances like smart ovens and refrigerators with sensors that can do everything from detect what foods are on the counter to provide suggestions on how to prepare them. The company has also partnered with Amazon and IBM to provide additional endpoints for their IoT and smart home technologies.

“We are committed to introducing new products to market that remove complexity from the day-to-day lives of consumers. Increasingly, these products will be defined by both physical and digital experiences,” said Brett Dibkey, vice president, Integrated Business Units for Whirlpool Corporation.

The company stated they hope Yummly can help them expand their digital product offerings. Yummly’s platform, which is essentially a visual and semantic recipe search engine, is touted as being more specific to what users need regarding recipes and food suggestions. The app also provides contextual recommendations for cookware and other kitchen products alongside the recipes, giving users an easy way to order what they need.

The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to be finalized in May 2017. Terms of the acquisition are confidential.

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