Private equity firm Beaubridge is leading a GBP2.5 million investment in Florismart, an online marketplace connecting florists throughout Europe.
Beaubridge has chosen CoInvestor to make this EIS investment opportunity available to investors to access directly and invest in online.
The Florismart platform is designed to allow florists to come together to create a competitive marketplace between suppliers resulting in greater product choice and improved prices for the florists with all their purchases delivered direct to their premises overnight. Savings can be as high as 20 per cent over the tradition supply model with flowers delivered direct from the grower and florists able to order in advance.
The Florismart concept is enabling florists to act in unison and use their collective buying power to compete with the major retailers in the EUR20 billion flower industry.
As part of the Beaubridge investment, Abraham Wijnperle has been appointed as chairman of the board of Florismart.
Steve France, CEO at Florismart, says: “We are delighted with the progress the business has made over the past few months and this round of funding will allow us to develop the business faster and maintain the current growth trajectory.”
Peter Buckley, co-founder at Beaubridge, says: “One of the biggest barriers to entry into this industry is the necessity to have built strong long-term relationships and trust with stakeholders. Florismart not only benefits from a very experienced management team led by Steve, but significantly from the involvement of Abe as their chairman. Abe has a wealth of experience in the industry, successfully co-founding Proflowers in 1999, which was later sold to Liberty Media in 2007 for USD477 million.”
