(Serious Eats homepage)

Seattle-area startup Fexy Media sold two of its food-related web properties — Serious Eats and Simply Recipes — to IAC-owned Dotdash in an all-cash deal.

The two websites reach a combined 16 million people per month. Fexy co-CEO Cliff Sharples told GeekWire that the deal will help Fexy move out of an ad-supported digital media model and focus on Relish, its other recipe website. As part of the deal, Fexy and Dotdash will partner to help grow Relish.

Dotdash operates other sites including The Spruce, Brides, Lifewire, Liquor.com, and more that reach a combined 100 million users per month.

“The sale and partnership with Dotdash perfectly suit the skill sets of both companies,” Sharples said. “Fexy can double down on transforming how people manage their daily grocery shopping lists, discover and plan daily meals, and seamlessly connect to grocery e-commerce for same-day delivery or in-store pickup. Dotdash can double down on being the best digital publisher in the food and drink category.”

Fexy acquired Serious Eats in 2015 and Simply Recipes a year later.

Axios first reported the news, saying the deal helps Dotdash become “one of the biggest digital food and beverage publishers.” Dotdash is owned by IAC, the publicly-traded media giant that operates more than 150 brands.

Fexy Media co-founders Lisa and Cliff Sharples.

Sharples said 27 employees from Fexy will move to Dotdash. Fexy now has 26 employees and remains a standalone business. The company has raised more than $16 million from Austin, Tex.-based Tritium Partners.

Sharples runs Fexy Media with his wife Lisa Sharples. Before Fexy, Cliff Sharples served in executive roles at HomeAway and Cheezburger.

Lisa Sharples previously spent six years running Allrecipes, another Seattle-based food site catering to millennials now owned by Meredith.

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