US investor helps florist bloom

AMERICAN investor Ernesto Schmitt has joined the board of flower delivery business Freddie’s Flowers as it accelerates growth plans.

Schmitt, a serial entrepreneur and former EMI executive, co-founded The Craftory investment firm three years ago with Italian businessman Elio Leoni Sceti, the former chief executive of EMI Music and frozen food brand Iglo.

The Craftory backs ‘challenger brands’ with annual revenues of more than $10 million. It invested $60million (£43million) in London-based Freddie’s Flowers last month and is now a minority shareholder.

Following the deal, founder Freddie Garland has stepped down from the board to focus on the creative side of the flower box subscription business.

He remains a majority shareholder alongside the firm’s chief executive Ted Bell and Keith Abel, the founder of organic food delivery firm Abel & Cole.

The Craftory counts Pierre Lagrange, co-founder of hedge fund GLG Partners, among its directors. Freddie’s Flowers, launched in 2014, has 130,000 customers in the UK, 25,000 in Germany and now plans to expand into other European markets. Sales grew 60 per cent to £26.4 million over the year to last August.

Last year, it raised £4.4 million from its customers through a four-year ‘Flower Bond’, which repays investors in flowers or cash.