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UK’s Bloom & Wild raises further £50M funding and acquires French rival Bergamotte

A couple of months after acquiring Amsterdam-based Bloomon, Bloom & Wild, a London-based online flower delivery and gifting platform, has made another acquisition. The UK startup that has established itself as a trusted flower delivery brand has now bought Bergamotte, a French-based competitor, for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition has quadrupled the size of Bloom & Wild’s French business. On top of that, the company has secured a spot in the top five positions in the country’s online flower delivery market. 

Aron Gelbard, CEO and co-founder of Bloom & Wild said, “Romain and Loïc and their entire team have done an outstanding job establishing Bergamotte as a leading brand in the French market and as an innovator in the flower and plant category and I am delighted to welcome them all to the Bloom & Wild family.”

It’s worth mentioning that Bergamotte has recently expanded into Germany as well. The deal cements the company’s position in the growing £22 billion European flowers and house plant market. 

Bergamotte: What do you need to know

Based out of Paris, Bergamotte is a D2C online flower and plant business. Founded by Romain Raffard and Loïc Reperant in 2015, the company has an extensive range of plants including large indoor and outdoor plants. 

The French company has been profitable for the past year and raised three funding rounds between 2016 and 2018 for undisclosed sums. The company is backed by investors like 360 Capital, Xange et Raise Ventures, and angel investors — Thibault Lougnon and Eric La Bonnardière.

Currently, the company runs a team of some 80 out of Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin.

How does this acquisition benefit Bloom & Wild?

“There are substantial synergies to be realised from Bergamotte’s insights, expertise, and supplier relationships in the plant market,” says the company in a release. Further, the acquisition will double the company’s revenue across Europe as it consolidated its position as the leading European online flower and delivery market. 

Moreover, the French company uses pop-up stores as a crucial feature of its brand-building strategy. This, in turn, will provide fresh opportunities for the wider business. Also, Romain Raffard, CEO and Co-founder of Bergamotte will become the Managing Director of Bergamotte, reporting directly to Aron.

“I’m really excited about this deal, which enhances the opportunities for career and personal development for the entire team, secures ongoing investment for the Bergamotte brand, and through knowledge sharing across both businesses, will give us the most powerful technology, data, and marketing platform in the industry.  Culturally there is a strong fit and we share similar values around customer service, innovation, and sustainability. I am fully invested in the enlarged business and look forward to working with Aron and the whole team as we continue to seize the opportunity in the growing European flower market”, commented Romain Raffard, CEO and co-founder of Bergamotte.

With Bloomon, and Bergamotte under the kitty, the UK company is targeting revenues substantially over £200 million in the current year. 

Secured £50M

On the other hand, the flower delivery company has raised an additional £30 million of new equity in an extension to its initial Series D raise earlier in 2021. 

The funding was raised from existing investors including, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, Burda Principal Investments, d4 Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, MMC Ventures, Novator, and Pecten Capital. In tandem, the company has also raised £20 million of debt finance in a two-bank club deal.

The funding round comes six months after securing £75 million funding in the Series D round. The funding will be used to develop organic and inorganic growth initiatives.

Aron Gelbard, CEO and co-founder of Bloom & Wild said: “We are rapidly extending our leadership of the European online flower and house plant market through the combination of strong organic growth and selective acquisitions. As markets continue their online transition, Bloom & Wild is best placed to capture this growth, given our expanding product range and the sophistication of our technology, data, and marketing capabilities, in what is a growing £22 billion European market opportunity.   

Founded by Aron Gelbard, and Ben Stanway, Bloom & Wild is an online flower delivery platform developing a modern approach for sending flowers to loved ones. 

It all started when Aron was frustrated with sending and receiving flowers both on and offline with the poor customer experience of sending and receiving flowers. He saw the opportunity to adapt the letterbox delivery concept, and thus Bloom & Wild was born. 

At present, the UK company operates across eight countries, including Germany, France, Austria, and the Netherlands. To date, the company has raised £126 million of equity over four institutional funding rounds.

The post UK’s Bloom & Wild raises further £50M funding and acquires French rival Bergamotte appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).

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