Online flowers and gifts delivery specialist Floward has raised GBP19.8 million (USD27.5 million) in a Series B funding round led by STV with participation from Impact46.
Established in 2017 by Founder and CEO Abdulaziz B Al Loughani, Floward is a fully-fledged e-commerce solution that offers prime fresh-cut flowers coupled with gifts and products from local and international brands with same day delivery. This fragmented sector has traditionally been largely dominated by brick-and-mortar shops with almost no presence online, giving Floward the opportunity to become the market leader in the MENA region.
Floward has earned a leading market position in the flowers vertical, making in the largest flowers business in the whole MENA region in just under four years. Following their successful launch in London earlier this year, Floward now operates in 20 cities across seven countries with a team of over 450 members and counting.
CEO Abdulaziz Al Loughani says: “Since our launch four years ago, we have been on a clear and rapid growth path that was further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic as e-commerce penetration saw a huge surge during the past year. These circumstances presented to us clear opportunities and accelerated our growth plans in the MENA region and beyond, specifically into London, UK – our first expansion outside of the region.
“Floward has seen over 10 x growth in 2020 – in the first 100 days of 2021 our revenues have surpassed those of the entire year of 2020. We have a clear expansion strategy that follows our own set playbook allowing us to swiftly and seamlessly expand to new markets with the aim to become a major global player in the flowers and gifts industry, with a clear path to positive unit economics and profitability.
“Today marks an important milestone of our journey at Floward. We want to partner with like-minded deep-rooted entrepreneurs, creative, determined, and bold movers that are willing to change the status quo. We are proud to announce our partnership with STV joined with Impact46 and are confident that this partnership along with Floward’s team will help in marking ourselves as a global player in the flowers and gifts industry”.
Ahmad Al Naimi, Partner at STV, says: “We’re excited to join Floward on their mission to master consumer gifting. They have shown impressive understanding of consumer trends, coupled with perfect execution of the customer experience and supply chain. We’re happy to partner with them as they expand their footprint to new markets and new products.”
