In a city like New York, there are two main options to get floral bouquets in your home on a regular basis. You can make arrangements with your neighborhood’s floral shop, which can easily run north of $125 per pop. Or, if price is a factor, you can drop by the local bodega or deli shop to pick up a few bunches. The prices can be as little as $10 for a dozen roses— but as they say, you often get what you pay for.
H.Bloom is an online floral delivery service hoping to solve this pain point by offering floral subscription plans at affordable rates. Their basic package is $35 per floral bundle (including shipping) and can be delivered on a weekly, monthly or bi-monthly basis.
Since the company’s launch earlier this year in New York, H.Bloom has attracted a respectable sum of investment dollars, raising $1.1 million in its angel round. This morning, the startup announced that it has just raised a $2.1 million Series A round of funding, led by Battery Ventures. Unnamed investors from the previous round also participated.
The new round will help H.Bloom (which only serves the NY market today) expand its team and break into the Washington DC market.
The real value of H. Bloom is in the cost and convenience. According to the startup, the company is able to offer competitive pricing by working directly with the growers, cutting out several traditional overhead expenses and relying on the subscription plan model, which requires 7-day notice for cancellations.
“The flower industry is saddled with unnecessary cost,” CEO Bryan Burkhart said in a statement. “Retailers have to pay for expensive store-fronts and an overwhelming percentage of flowers that spoil before a customer can purchase them. With no retail footprint and the predictability of subscriptions, we know exactly what flowers to order and can pass on the savings to our customers.”
Although the company prides itself on its hyper-local approach, the real challenge for an outfit like H.Bloom will be achieving efficient scalability and adjusting to each, unique market. H.Bloom has wiped out many of the floral industry’s overhead costs but it’s a capital intensive business (purchasing, arranging and shipping flowers) with several moving parts. H.Bloom will need more than NY and even DC to truly upend the floral distribution chain in metropolitan areas.
