Saudi Arabia’s STV leads $27.5 million Floward Series B funding

Saudi Arabia’s STV has led a $27.5 million Series B funding round for Floward, the rapidly expanding online flowers and gifts delivery company.

Impact 46 also participated in the funding round, the company said in a statement on Sunday. Established in 2017 by founder and CEO Abdulaziz B. Al-Loughani, Floward offers prime fresh-cut flowers coupled with gifts and products from local and international brands with same day delivery.

“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,” said Al-Loughani.

“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.”

A venture capital boom in the Gulf is helping to fund a swathe of e-commerce and technologyfocused startups with Saudi Arabia emerging as a major source of funding for emerging entrepreneurs across the region.

The company now operates in 20 cities across seven countries with a team of over 450. It said its revenues for the first 100 days of 2021 have exceeded the whole of last year.

“In the GCC, we estimate the cut-flower retail market alone to

amount to $3 billion annually, and it is growing at a faster rate than the global market,” STV said in a blog post on its website. “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.”