Kuwait’s online flowers and gifting platform, Floward, has raised $27.5 million in a Series B round led by STV, with participation from Impact 46. The round takes total money raised to date by Floward to over $30 million
Floward is a full-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.
The startup is expanding aggressively. It currently operates in 20 cities across the region, offering same-day delivery for all the orders. It expanded to its first market outside the Middle East in December 2020 with the launch of its platform in London.
Abdulaziz Al Loughani, Floward CEO, commented “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 the region. Floward has seen over 10x 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.”.
STV wrote in a blogpost wrote, “Our excitement for Floward is inspired by the company’s potential and understanding of GCC consumer trends. Floward today is tapping into two such trends: The first is social gifting, by focusing on both the gift giver and the recipients’ experience. The second is social commerce, by merging eCommerce operations with social media platforms by having influencers and designers create their own designs and sell them on Floward, establishing an income source for their partners. Moving forward, Floward is primed to be an international champion of social gifting.”
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