Meal delivery kit startup Gousto has developed an Alexa app as it looks to compete with HelloFresh

LONDON — Gousto, a meal delivery kit startup that competes with the likes of HelloFresh, has released a new Amazon Alexa app to help people cook its recipes.

The 5-year-old startup allows you to place weekly recipe orders online. It then sends out perfectly measured ingredients alongside recipe cards directly to your door.

The Gousto Alexa app, which went live on Thursday, guides people through Gousto recipes step-by-step, allowing them to cook "hands-free". Customers can also use the Alexa app to review what's in their box and remind themselves of the recipe orders they've placed.

Gousto isn't the only food startup looking to capitalise on virtual assistants. Mary Biggins, cofounder and CEO of lunch subscription startup MealPal, told Business Insider this that some of her engineers are thinking about developing an Alexa app.

But Gousto claims to be the first company in the increasingly competitive recipe box delivery market to develop an Alexa app.

Gousto CTO Shaun Pearce said in a statement: "At Gousto, we're passionate about using technology to transform weekly mealtimes for UK families — helping to make shopping, planning, and cooking for weekly meals simple and convenient.

"We invest heavily in data science, our tech stack and operational infrastructure — which gives us an advantage over competitors and much larger brands. In two years, we've grown our tech team by 600%.

"We encourage innovation within the team, by allocating 10% of our engineers' time to work on what they think will benefit Gousto and its customers. This encourages our team to think creatively and many of these projects have gone on to become fully functional tools, including this Alexa skill." Since launch, Gousto has benefited from two rounds of funding from private investors, including BGF Ventures, Unilever Ventures, MMC Ventures, Angel CoFund, and Barclays.

Timo Boldt, CEO of Gousto, said in a statement: "We're customer obsessed, constantly finding ways to offer even more ease and convenience around mealtimes. With one in four UK households expected to have an Amazon Echo by 2018 — it's just another way we can offer a service which fits in around their busy lifestyles and help families serve up good home-cooked food."