Detroit’s Bloomscape Raises $7.5 Million with Participation from Endeavor Catalyst

Bloomscape, a leading direct-to-consumer plant company, announced $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Revolution Ventures with participation from Endeavor Catalyst. A number of leading consumer brand founders also participated in the funding round, including Allbirds co-founder Joey Zwillinger, Away co-founder Jen Rubio, Eventbrite co-founder Kevin Hartz, Harry’s co-founder Jeff Raider, Quora co-founder Charlie Cheever, and Warby Parker co-founders Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa.

Selected into the Endeavor network in December 2018 and supported by Endeavor Detroit, Bloomscape Founder — and fifth generation horticulturalist — Justin Mast is changing the way consumers purchase and care for plants.

“We’re thrilled to invest in Bloomscape alongside world-class consumer investors and founders,” Endeavor Co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg said. “With high-impact entrepreneurs like Justin building truly innovative companies, we see enormous potential for Detroit’s growing ecosystem and beyond. Bloomscape is one of the youngest companies in Endeavor and we believe their success so far is indicative of more growth to come.”

The plant industry has been slow to come online given the complexity of warehousing and shipping living plants and the lack of scaled players whose supply chains can support an e-commerce offering. Meanwhile, consumer shopping preferences and millennials’ interest in becoming self-proclaimed “plant parents” have driven growth in the $50B category, which is still stagnated by the lack of a high-quality online options. Bloomscape is filling the void between big box stores, fading gardening centers, and nurseries unable to compete online by building a direct-to-consumer brand that leads the field in providing the greatest diversity of plants (from 10 in. aloe plants to 5 ft. Birds of Paradise) shipped directly from local, high-tech greenhouses.

Bloomscape provides unmatched plant quality and care support, leveraging its proprietary packing and shipping systems to quickly deliver fully potted plants and post-purchase direction and advice. The company’s comprehensive care instructions and free, expert advice comes from its Plant Mom platform, powered by Joyce Mast — Justin’s mother — and gives customers the confidence to fulfill the role as proud “plant parents.” Joyce brings over 40 years of horticulture expertise and deep industry knowledge directly to consumers’ fingertips.

“Growing millennial interest in plants has created significant pent up demand for a reliable online retailer. Bloomscape is meeting that need by offering more than 90 kinds of plants and shipping them to consumers’ front doors from our greenhouses near Grand Rapids, Michigan,” said Mast. “Plants make any space feel more welcoming, but the experience of buying and caring for plants can be daunting. We make it easy for millions of people to select high quality plants that fit any space and lifestyle.”

Bloomscape carefully curates its inventory by size, level of care required, availability of natural light, and pet-friendliness. This simple and unintimidating experience has garnered a rapidly growing and loyal following, generating millions in sales and has shipped over 100,000 plants in just over a year.

“Plants are a highly fragmented, fast growing industry, but the market has been slow to come online – warehousing and shipping living things is hard,” says Clara Sieg, Partner at Revolution Ventures. “Drawing on five generations of horticultural experience, Justin and the Bloomscape team combine the ease of e-commerce with care and maintenance resources in a beautifully branded, consumer-centric experience that empowers even the least green thumbed among us to be successful plant parents.”

About Bloomscape

Bloomscape is an innovative direct-to-consumer online plant shop that delivers plants directly from the greenhouse to consumers’ front doors. Bloomscape founder and CEO Justin Mast used his extensive history in horticulture to develop the first of its kind packaging technology to easily deliver full-sized healthy potted plants across the US. Bloomscape’s mission is to help strengthen its customers’ relationship with plants by delivering healthy, ready-to-go potted plants and providing all the tips and tricks needed to help them thrive. For more information, visit https://bloomscape.com.

About Revolution Ventures

Revolution Ventures partners with start-ups and early-stage companies founded and led by passionate entrepreneurs. Revolution Ventures is focused on investing in technology-enabled businesses that empower consumers and disrupt existing, multi-billion dollar industries. Revolution Ventures is headquartered in Washington, D.C. www.revolution.com/ventures

About Endeavor Catalyst

Endeavor Catalyst is the innovative co-investment fund of Endeavor, set up to invest exclusively in Endeavor Entrepreneur-led companies and to sustain Endeavor’s long-term operations in a mission-aligned way. Since launching in January 2012, Endeavor Catalyst has raised over $110M in donated and invested capital, and invested in more than 100 Endeavor companies in over 20 markets. To date, Endeavor Catalyst has co-invested alongside a number of leading venture capital and growth equity funds, including Accel Partners, General Atlantic, NEA, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global. Investments include Globant (NYSE: GLOB) in Argentina, Yemeksepeti.com (acquired by Delivery Hero) in Turkey, and dr. consulta in Brazil. Learn more here.