The Craftory, a global investment house focused exclusively on championing the world’s boldest, mission-driven consumer brands has invested USD60 million in Freddie’s Flowers.
The progressive flower box subscription brand intends to use the funds to support the company’s rapid growth and international expansion, enhance its range of products and hire new talent, all whilst amplifying its positive impact.
Freddie’s Flowers aligns perfectly with The Craftory’s bold vision to deliver best-in-class consumer goods that champion sustainability and challenge their category, benefitting both the planet and society. This new partnership is intended to disrupt the industry status quo and will see The Craftory and Freddie’s Flowers drive forward two essential causes: promoting mindfulness and prospering sustainably.
Having seen a huge spike in sales during lockdown, Freddie’s Flowers has quickly grown to become the largest flower box subscription business in the UK. Launched in 2014, Freddie’s Flowers delivers beautiful selections of flowers each week to homes across the whole of mainland UK and Germany. Championing mindfulness, every Freddie’s Flowers delivery comes with a step‑by‑step guide to help customers make the most of their flowers. Direct from their network of growers, Freddie’s customers have the opportunity to step away from the stresses of modern life and enjoy a calming moment of creative flower-arranging as their super fresh flowers go from bud to bloom. These stunning arrangements are a beautiful centrepiece, brightening up the homes of over 130,000 customers in the UK and nearly 25,000 in Germany.
Both The Craftory and Freddie’s Flowers share a like-minded vision that prospering sustainably is not only possible, but should be the default choice.
Freddie’s Flowers operate a ‘grow to order’ model where growers only cut the flowers they need thereby significantly reducing waste. The brand’s iconic delivery bikes complete two thirds of London deliveries, and their packaging is eco-friendly, prioritising recyclability and biodegradability wherever possible. To top it off the business is newly certified carbon neutral and has a strategy in place to deliver ever more sustainable solutions.
“At Freddie’s Flowers, sustainability is a core focus of what we do” explains William Gee, Head of Sustainability at Freddie’s Flowers. “As a business, we strive to actively demonstrate climate leadership and account for our environmental impact. This has been shown both through our commitment to carbon neutrality, third-party verified by the Carbon Trust, and through our greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets via the Science-Based Targets initiative.
Within our industry, we are working hard with key stakeholders through the Floriculture Sustainability Initiative, developing new tools to measure the environmental impact of our flowers and ensure fair working conditions for the sector globally.
Finally at home, we are proud of the responsible sourcing and biodegradability of our packaging, along with our electric bike fleet that make circa 20 per cent (soon to be more) of all our deliveries around the country, with electric vans soon to follow.”
Ernesto Schmitt, The Craftory Co-Founder, says: “We’ve been blown away by Freddie’s trail-blazing approach to democratising access to great flowers for everyone. They’ve deconstructed every wasteful step along the value chain, and with confidence, creativity and CPG best-practice pieced together a new kind of service that sets the gold standard for the category. Freddies’ are a true CPG challenger brand and we’re proud to have them in our portfolio.”
“I have loved brightening up people’s homes up and down the country over the last few years and am delighted to have The Craftory onboard to help us spread the joy of flowers in a sustainable, ethical way,” adds Freddie Garland, founder of Freddie’s Flowers.
