We are leading a $27.5 million USD (~103.1 million SAR) investment round in Floward, the region’s leading flowers and gifts eCommerce solution that offers fresh-cut flowers, floral arrangements and bouquets, and gift baskets. Floward’s presence has covered the entire GCC market and has even tapped into the UK market following their recent geo-expansion.
Social gifting is a fundamental part of MENA’s culture, at the center of which blooms the symbol of gifts: flowers. Whether it is for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, holidays, or other occasions, flowers are a cornerstone in gift giving. In the GCC, we estimate the cut-flower retail market alone to amount to ~3bn USD annually, and it is growing at a faster rate than the global market. Yet online gifting is extremely underpenetrated in the region. That, along with MENA’s socially and digitally connected population make the space ripe for the creation of a regional champion.
We believe that such a champion must master both quality of products and customer experience. That is exactly what we saw with Floward’s team. Today, Floward is a floral gifting platform that offers bouquets, floral arrangements, and gift baskets. The company fully owns their clients’ gifting journey from sourcing quality flowers globally to fulfilling last-mile delivery. The company’s go-to-market strategy of partnering with designers and influencers to design and market their products has accelerated establishing Floward’s unique and customer-loved brand. While the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated eCommerce penetration in the region across all verticals, Floward’s more than 10x growth during 2020 in comparison to 2019, stands out considerably. The company has also been expanding its geographical footprint both regionally and globally at an impressive pace, as they have started operations in several cities since the start of the year to cover a total of 20 cities across the GCC and UK, with more to come.
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.
Abdulaziz B. Al Loughani, the company’s founder and CEO is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor. Having previously co-founded and led Talabat.com, which exited to Rocket Internet, we believe that Abdulaziz and the impressive Floward team, coupled with their data-driven process and insights into regional consumer behavior, hold the keys to championing this space.