Houlihan Lokey Advises Freddie’s Flowers

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Freddie’s Flowers Ltd. has received a $60 million growth investment from The Craftory Ltd. The transaction was signed and completed on 21 July 2021. The financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

Based in London and San Francisco, The Craftory is a $375 million global investment house, focusing exclusively on bold CPG brands that positively impact their category, society, and the planet. The firm offers permanent and early-stage growth capital, as well as strategic expertise that covers industry networking, founder mentoring, branding, marketing, innovation, and scale—all designed to rapidly amplify growth.

Founded in 2014, Freddie’s Flowers has become the UK’s largest flower box subscription business, delivering beautiful selections of flowers each week to homes across the whole of mainland UK and Germany. Freddie’s Flowers aligns perfectly with The Craftory’s bold vision to deliver best-in-class consumer goods that champion sustainability and challenge its category, benefitting both the planet and society. This new partnership is intended to disrupt the industry status quo and will see The Craftory and Freddie’s Flowers drive forward two essential causes:

• Championing mindfulness, every Freddie’s Flowers delivery comes with a step‑by‑step guide to help customers make the most of their flowers. Direct from their network of growers, Freddie’s Flowers customers have the opportunity to step away from the stresses of modern life and enjoy a calming moment of creative flower arranging as the super fresh flowers go from bud to bloom. These stunning arrangements make a beautiful centerpiece, brightening up the homes of over 130,000 customers in the UK and nearly 25,000 in Germany.
  
  
• Both The Craftory and Freddie’s Flowers share a like-minded vision that prospering sustainably is not only possible, but should be the default choice. Freddie’s Flowers operates a “grow-to-order” model where growers only cut the flowers they need, thereby significantly reducing waste. The brand’s iconic delivery bikes complete 75% of London deliveries, and the packaging is eco-friendly, prioritising recyclability and biodegradability wherever possible. To top it off, the business is newly certified carbon-neutral and has a strategy in place to deliver evermore sustainable solutions.

“I cannot speak highly enough of the job Houlihan Lokey did with our growth capital raise. They have a vast network of investor relationships and identified the perfect partner to help grow our business internationally. The entire transaction process went very smoothly and the team at Houlihan Lokey really understood our business model and vision. Their deep understanding of the sector and direct-to-consumer dynamics helped deliver an outstanding outcome for our business.” said Ted Bell, CEO of Freddie’s Flowers.

Houlihan Lokey served as Freddie’s Flowers’ exclusive financial advisor and assisted in initiating, structuring, and negotiating all aspects of the transaction on its behalf. This deal further highlights Houlihan Lokey’s deep D2C expertise working with the consumer industry’s most innovative and disruptive early-stage businesses. It also underlines Houlihan Lokey’s increasing focus on providing private capital funding advice to clients.