ARLINGTON, VA. — Meal delivery service Territory Foods raised $22 million in a funding round led by U.S. Venture Partners.

Celebrities Abby Wambach and Vernon Davis also participated in the round, along with Upfront Ventures, Lewis & Clark Ventures, DF Enterprises, S2G Ventures, Gaingels, Middleland Capital, Motely Fool Ventures, Finistere Ventures and Rethink Food Capital. The round brings Territory’s total funding to $44 million, the most venture funding raised by a woman-led business in the ready-to-eat food category, according to the company.

Launched in 2012, Territory Foods offers personalized, nutritionist-designed meals in more than 20 major US markets. Its direct-to-consumer delivery model is powered by a decentralized back-end marketplace, which partners with local chefs in the communities Territory serves, enabling customers to support their local culinary small businesses. The company’s rotating, regionally curated menus feature non-inflammatory ingredients that support a variety of dietary preferences, including vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, paleo, keto, low carb, low fat, Mediterranean and Whole30.

Chief executive officer Ellis McCue built the company with an eye toward social justice. Forty-two percent of its local partners are women-owned businesses, and 38% are minority-owned businesses. It also donates proceeds and meals to Feeding America to help reduce food waste and food insecurity.

The company has benefited from the shift toward at-home consumption during the pandemic, with sales growing 250% year-over-year in 2020, Ms. McCue said.

“This new round of funding will allow us to expand our chef community and provide our customers with even more options,” she said. “We go to great lengths to create optimized, personalized meals for each consumer and empower our chefs with data about our customer’s taste and nutritional preferences so they can tailor each meal, ultimately providing more variety than other delivery options out there.”