What iCook.tw does

iCook.tw (愛料理) is Taiwan's largest online recipe-sharing platform, founded in August 2010 by co-founders 蕭上農 (Fox Hsiao), 李致緯 (Richard Lee), and 林宜儒 (Lin Yi-Ru) and operated by Polydice, Inc. (寶利拾股份有限公司). The platform hosts over 300,000 user-generated recipes across web, iOS, and Android, serving approximately 5 million registered users in Taiwan — a footprint that includes roughly one in three Taiwanese women. Core engagement mechanics include step-by-step recipe browsing, a "cooking mode" that keeps the device screen on, and the signature 一起做 (cook-together) social feature where users upload photos of completed dishes, creating a user-generated content flywheel.

The product surface has expanded into a multi-module ecosystem: a paid iCook VIP subscription (NT$899 annual / NT$270 quarterly / NT$100 monthly) with weekly meal planning, shopping lists, and nutritionist-approved recipes; an e-commerce marketplace (愛料理市集) for curated kitchen tools and ingredients; editorial content (生活誌); cooking video tutorials (愛料理 TV); product reviews (iGood / 愛好物); and a member product-trial service (試用推薦). Distribution combines owned channels (web, apps, LINE Official Account, Facebook) with partnerships including Xiaomi Taiwan smart-appliance integration and Taipei Metro in-station video.

Revenue is generated through four streams: VIP subscription, marketplace commission, advertising (precision-targeted via Google AdMob/AdSense/Analytics, The Trade Desk programmatic, and Facebook retargeting), and brand-sponsored recipe contests. The company received angel investment from 億錦投資 in October 2011 and seed funding from Japan's CyberAgent Ventures in October 2012. Co-founder 李致緯 was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2017. iCook joined the TNL Mediagene media group in October 2022, becoming part of Taiwan's largest independent media conglomerate, and currently operates with 11–50 employees from its Taipei headquarters.

Name

iCook.tw

Legal name

寶利拾股份有限公司

Website

https://icook.tw

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

iCook.tw is Taiwan's largest recipe-sharing platform, serving approximately 5 million users with over 300,000 user-generated recipes, community photo-sharing features, a VIP subscription, an e-commerce marketplace, and a multi-module lifestyle content ecosystem under the TNL Mediagene group.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Taipei

HQ country

Taiwan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. VIP Subscription: Annual, quarterly, and monthly subscription tiers providing ad-free experience, advanced recipe sorting, exclusive nutritionist-approved recipes, weekly meal planning, shopping lists, and recipe calendar features.
2. Marketplace (愛料理市集): E-commerce marketplace for kitchen tools, ingredients, and cooking-related products. Products are curated and sold through the platform.
3. Advertising: Precision marketing ads displayed on the platform, leveraging user browsing behavior and demographic data for targeted advertising.
4. Brand Campaigns: Sponsored recipe contests and campaigns from food brands (e.g., USA Chicken, noodles brands, rice brands) where users create recipes using brand ingredients for prizes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

iCook.tw operates Taiwan's largest online recipe-sharing platform with a community-driven library of 300,000+ recipes accessible via web, iOS, and Android. Users can browse, save, and publish recipes, share photos of completed dishes through the '一起做' (Cook-Together) social feature, and access seasonal ingredient guides. The platform is supported by a VIP paid subscription offering ad-free browsing, advanced sorting, weekly meal planning, shopping lists, and nutritionist-approved recipes, and is complemented by an integrated e-commerce marketplace, video tutorials, lifestyle blog, and product review modules.

Product overview

iCook.tw is a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on the 愛料理 (iCook) recipe sharing app and website — Taiwan's largest cooking platform with over 290,000–300,000 recipes. The core product is supplemented by seven distinct modules: 愛料理 VIP (paid subscription with ad-free experience, meal planning, and exclusive recipes), 生活誌 (editorial lifestyle blog), 愛料理市集 (e-commerce marketplace), 愛料理 TV (video tutorials), iGood 愛好物 (product recommendations/reviews), and 試用推薦 (member trial reviews). The ecosystem is operated by Polydice, Inc. (寶利拾股份有限公司) under the TNL Mediagene group, serving approximately 5 million Taiwanese users.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 愛料理市集: E-commerce marketplace offering kitchen appliances, ingredients, and cooking-related products
• 愛料理 TV
• iGood (愛好物)
• 試用推薦
• 生活誌

Products and services

• 愛料理 iCook Recipe Platform Taiwan's largest recipe sharing platform with 300,000+ recipes, step-by-step instructions, recipe saving/sharing, '一起做' (Cook-Together) community photo uploads, seasonal ingredient guides, and search by cuisine, ingredient, and dietary preference. Available free via web and iOS/Android apps.
• 愛料理 VIP Subscription Paid subscription service offering ad-free browsing, advanced recipe search with custom sorting/filtering, weekly meal planning ('一週菜單'), recipe calendar, shopping lists, nutritionist-approved exclusive recipes, and VIP-exclusive marketplace discounts. Annual NT$899, quarterly NT$270, or monthly NT$100 with auto-renewal.
• 愛料理市集 (iCook Market)

Quantifiable outcome

• 1 in 3 Taiwanese women uses iCook
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• TNL Mediagene (關鍵評論網集團)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2022iCook joined the TNL Mediagene Group in October 2022, becoming part of Taiwan's largest independent media group that includes Business Insider Taiwan, Cool3c, INSIDE, ROOMIE, The New Lens, and Sports V. This acquisition integrated iCook into a broader lifestyle and media ecosystem.
• 台北捷運 (Taipei Metro)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 August 2018Cross-brand partnership with Taipei Metro to display cooking videos at MRT stations, increasing brand visibility in high-traffic public areas.
• Facebook (Meta)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerFacebook retargeting ads where users who browsed iCook content see relevant ads on Facebook. Part of the advertising ecosystem.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Yummly: Recipe discovery platform with smart filtering, meal planning, and grocery integration. Comparable in offering personalized recipe search and meal planning features similar to iCook's VIP Weekly Menu.
• Cookpad: Japan's largest recipe sharing platform with similar user-generated recipe model, community features, and VIP subscription (Cookpad Plus). Directly comparable as the most successful Asian recipe platform and the model iCook appears to have followed.
• Food52: Food content and commerce platform combining recipes, community, and curated kitchen product marketplace. Highly comparable to iCook's multi-module ecosystem spanning content, community, and marketplace.
• Allrecipes: US-based recipe platform with large user-generated recipe database, community ratings/reviews, and advertising/marketplace revenue model. Directly comparable as a global recipe community with similar monetization approach.
• 下廚房 (Xiachufang): China's largest recipe community platform with user-generated recipes, meal planning features, and marketplace integration. Closely comparable in business model, though operating in Mainland China rather than Taiwan.

Broad incumbents

• NYTimes Cooking: Subscription-based premium recipe product within a major media brand. Comparable as a recipe subscription model backed by a larger media organization, similar to iCook's VIP within TNL Mediagene.
• BuzzFeed Tasty: Video-first food content platform within a larger media company. Comparable in combining recipe content with social/video distribution and brand-sponsored content, though operating at a larger scale within BuzzFeed.
• Tastemade: Food-focused media brand combining video content, recipes, and commerce. Comparable in building a multi-platform food media business, though video-first versus iCook's text-and-photo approach.

Regional players

• 愛食尚 (iFoodStyle): Taiwanese/Chinese-language food content platform with recipe and culinary content. Regional peer targeting overlapping Chinese-speaking home cook audiences with iCook.
• 食譜控 (Recipe Kong): Taiwanese recipe and food content platform. Direct regional competitor serving the same Taiwanese home cook market as iCook, offering a useful comparison for share-of-voice and content differentiation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/icooktw
• Xx.com/icooktw
• Facebookfacebook.com/icooktw

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about iCook.tw