The flower delivery industry puts the petal to the metal

UrbanStems is the latest venture-backed flower delivery startup to take aim at flower powerhouses like 1-800-Flowers and FTD

UrbanStems, a flower delivery startup, announced that it has raised $12M to expand from bike-courier delivery in its 2 home markets of DC and NYC to next-day, 3rd-party delivery across the country.

The flower delivery industry puts the petal to the metal

It’s a sign that business is blooming at UrbanStems…

But several floral startups are also looking pretty

After this round of funding, UrbanStems has now raised a total of $27.2m.

But Bouqs, a competing flower delivery startup, has already watered its delivery platform with the nurturing liquidity of  $43.1m in venture capital. 

In the US, the retail flower market is an $18B enterprise, and other startups such as Farmgirl Flowers are growing. 

The real competition comes from the OG flower powerhouses…

Still, the flower market is dominated by a few big Flower Powers: 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. (the parent company which owns approximately a dozen brands, including 1-800-Flowers.com), which was founded in 1976, made more than $1.15B in revenue last year, according to its annual report.

[Editor’s Note: This brief has been corrected to indicate that consumer floral sales at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. did not decline last year, but in fact increased 4.7 percent.]

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