BloomNation

BloomNation is an American online floral marketplace with about 3,500 florists delivering to nearly 5,000 cities across the country. As an “Etsy-type” site for flowers, customers connect directly with local florists whose flower arrangements are highlighted in the marketplace.[1] The florists upload their own real photos of their floral design as no stock catalog images are allowed.[2] In the marketplace, customers can browse flower arrangements and reviews from participating florists all in one place.[3]

BloomNation
Type of businessPrivate
FoundedSanta Monica, California (March 22, 2010 (2010-03-22))
Headquarters
Santa Monica
,
United States
Founder(s)Farbod Shoraka, Gregg Weisstein and David Daneshgar
ServicesMarketplace for Local Florists
Employees45
URLbloomnation.com

History

BloomNation is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and was founded by David Daneshgar, Farbod Shoraka and Gregg Weisstein in 2011.[4] The original concept of a marketplace for florists was developed by Farbod after hearing the struggles of his aunt, who is a local florist.[5] The business plan was developed at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business where Daneshgar, Shoraka, and Weisstein won the university’s New Venture Challenge.[6] Initial seed funding was obtained when Daneshgar, a former World Series of Poker champion, won a two-day poker tournament in Los Angeles. This gave the company enough funding to create a beta version of the marketplace and establish proof of concept.[7]

BloomNation was the first national floral website to accept bitcoin.[8] They even offer customers a "BloomSnap", a feature where the florist sends the customer a photo of the completed arrangement before it goes out for delivery.[9]

Funding

BloomNation raised $1.65 million in seed funding. The round was led by Chris Dixon at Andreessen Horowitz and included participation from Spark Capital, Chicago Ventures and CrunchFund.[10]

In October 2014, BloomNation raised an additional $5.55 million series A round from Ronny Conway, Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Chicago Ventures and Crunchfund.[11] The additional resources will help the company expand its curated network of florists, introduce a wedding/event service and launch a mobile app.[12]

References
  1. Heussner, Ki Mae. "More funding for flower startups: Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital back BloomNation". Gigaom. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  2. "Send Friends, Family Spring Bouquets From BloomNation.com". CBS. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  3. Northrup, Laura. "1-800-Flowers Promises Flowers, Refund, Coupons: Delivers None Of The Above". Consumerist. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  4. Sirkin, Jessica. "Analytics Guide Business Model of New National Florist Network". Data Informed. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
  5. Heller Zaimont, Rachel. "How Three Dudes Turned Poker Winnings into a Startup That Could Fix the Flower Business". Fast Company. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  6. Pillai, Divyanka. "Past NVC Winner's Business is Blooming". Chicago Business. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  7. Johnston, Susan. "4 Young Entrepreneurs on the Creative Ways They Raised Startup Capital". Young Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on 2013-06-26. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  8. MEYER, ROBINSON. "It Is Now Possible to Buy Tulips With Bitcoin". The Atlantic. The Atlantic. Retrieved Feb 13, 2014.
  9. Barry, Erin. "Budding start-up aims to blossom". CNBC. CNBC. Retrieved Aug 6, 2014.
  10. Perez, Sarah. "BloomNation, a platform for local florists, raises $1.65m from Andreessen Horowitz & Others". TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  11. Dave, Paresh. "BloomNation's artsy online flower shop gets $5.6 million in funding". LA Times. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  12. Slade, Hollie. "Etsy-For-Flowers, BloomNation Inks Funding From Andreessen Horowitz". Forbes. Retrieved 7 October 2014.


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