Online marketplace BloomNation revolutionizes the multi-billion-dollar retail floral sector
Their rapidly growing team is now backed by the best investors in the industry including: Andreessen Horowitz (AirBnB, Facebook, Lyft, Twitter, etc.), Spark Capital (Tumblr, Warby Parker, etc.), and Crunch Fund (Square, Uber, etc.).
4
Rounds:
RBF loan
Non-dilutive financing:
Use of funds:
Make strategic hires
Invest in platform development
Scale business operations
Lighter Capital Funding
Grew ARR 50% YoY (2018 - 2020)
Maximum growth while minimizing cost of capital
Raised $11M in Series B funding round
Growth & Achievements
More on
BloomNation
About
BloomNation
Founded in August of 2011, BloomNation is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and send unique bouquets handcrafted by local florists across the country. Whether you’re looking for the traditional dozen roses or a one-of-a-kind design, BloomNation lets you discover and send the perfect gift. With our epic customer service and growing community of florists, BloomNation is the easiest and most reliable way for ordering flowers online.
“The financial and covenant free debt from Lighter is exactly what we needed at the time. Lighter gives you the opportunity to take on debt when you can’t take it on from more traditional sources and is invaluable from that standpoint.”
Gregg Weisstein
Co-Founder and COO, BloomNation
Quick Stats
Stage:
Growth
Industry:
Internet Publishing
Headquarters:
Santa Monica, California
Founded:
2011
Headquartered in sunny Santa Monica, CA, BloomNation white labels and hosts florists’ websites and provides them with access to bloomnation.com allowing independent florists to do what they do best: create beautiful flower arrangements for all occasions.
RBF fuels growth to successful VC Raise
BloomNation used non-dilutive revenue-based financing (RBF) from Lighter Capital to boost business operations resulting in approximately 50% year over year growth from 2018-2020. The founders were able to quickly make strategic hiring decisions and invest in tool development to better serve their florist customers.
Their platform has dramatically changed the way flowers are bought and sent online; and the monumental growth of their marketplace positioned the company handsomely for a $11M Series B funding round.
The Santa Monica based startup raised $7.25M in equity financing prior to reaching out to Lighter. After achieving profitability, the company wanted to fund additional growth, but equity financing became increasingly expensive at the time. As traditional debt financing proved to be too cumbersome due to restrictive financial covenants, the founders became attracted to Lighter Capital's flexible, founder-friendly venture debt solutions.
Business overview
In the same way you have seen Uber and AirBnB change consumer behavior, BloomNation has already dramatically changed the way flowers are bought and sent online.
BloomNation was founded in 2011 by Farbod Shoraka, David Daneshgar, and Gregg Weinstein. The company hosts websites and provides a marketplace that allows independent florists to sell directly to customers. Legacy players in the industry force independent florists and their businesses to process orders through their own websites. Florists do not control pricing and the assortment of bouquets are pre-selected by these wire services. Such industry incumbents also take commission and annual membership fees of up to 27% and $2500, respectively.
Meanwhile, BloomNation creates websites and hosts marketplaces for independent florists that allow them to sell their products independently, with complete control of price and style. Additionally, the company provides the contact information of past customers to florists, allowing them to market to previous clients. BloomNation only takes a 10% percent cut on all sales, whether it be through hosted websites or the floral marketplace. Since its conception, BloomNation has engaged over 3,000 florists who service 97% of the geographical United States.
BloomNation’s main moat derives from its ability to take care of the back-end, which allows florists to focus on their core competency of assembling bouquets. The company provides software that helps florists manage their website, collect and analyze sales data, manage inventory, and provide a frictionless point of sale.
Following the company’s success, the founders decided to rebrand the company as an arm of the parent company, Promenade, which provides similar business management services that help empower e-commerce businesses in the domains of liquor, breweries, and restaurants.
