The Bouqs Company

The Bouqs Company[1]
Type Retail
Founded Venice, California (November 1, 2012 (2012-11-01))
Headquarters Venice, United States
Founder(s)
Key people David Plafchan,[4] Eric Buterbaugh,[5] Molly Sims[6]
Employees
  • 50 Increase(2014)
  • 5 (2013)
Slogan(s) Fresh, easy, beautiful. Bouquets, simplified.
Website www.thebouqs.com
Alexa rank
  • 47,802 Decrease(August 2014)
  • 51,949(May 2014)
Available in English
Current status Active

The Bouqs Company is a venture-backed,[7] online flower retailer headquartered in Venice Beach, California with direct farm partnerships in South America and California.[8] The company offers cut-to-order flowers to consumers and wholesale customers within the United States. Their nationwide footprint of On-Demand florists currently covers 70% of the USA. name=wsj6>Kolodny, Lora (June 26, 2014). "TheBouqs.com Raises $6 Million to Deliver ‘Farm-to-Table’ Bouquets". http://www.wsj.com. Retrieved 8 July 2014. and to sell bouquets in markets beyond the U.S. starting with Canada.  External link in |website= (help)</ref>

The Bouqs Company works directly with flower farms in South America and California to offer fresh flowers which are often delivered before they have bloomed so that they sustain a greater life for the customer.[9][10] Although not advertised, based on promotional material and a claim of Florecuador certification, the origin country of South American "volcanic roses" is Ecuador. The Bouqs Company only works with sustainable, eco-friendly farms with fair labor practices.

History

Founded by John Tabis[2][11] and Juan Pablo Montufar[3] in 2012, Eric Buterbaugh later partnered with The Bouqs in 2013 as Chief Floral Designer[5] following the companies association with the start-up accelerator Amplify.LA in April 2013. The company appeared on Shark Tank on May 2, 2014 but did not receive investment capital from any of the judges.[12] In 2015 the company entered into a development agreement with Eric Day and Mark Koops (The Biggest Loser, Masterchef) of Trium Entertainment to develop an original unscripted TV series chronicling the growth and operations of the company's international network of responsible flower farms. The show will follow the Founders, who are close friends from their college years, as they search the globe for top quality, responsible blooms to delight clients across the country.[13]

Finance

Throughout 2013 the company has received investments from several venture capital funds such as Quest Venture Partners, Amplify.LA Capital, Siemer Ventures, Telegraph Hill Capital[14] as well as SG VC, a private investment firm owned by Sergey Grishin; and private investors including Dovi Frances.,[15] Mich Mathews, Dennis Phelps, Andy Dunn, Jimmy Kunihiro, and Brian Spaly.

In June 2014, The Bouqs Company raised over $6M in a Series A fundraising round.[16]

In February 2016, The Bouqs Company raised over $12M in Series B funding. The round includes existing investors Quest Venture Partners, Azure Capital Partners and KEC Ventures, along with Enspire Capital and Draper Associates, among others. The financing will be used to further invest in the company's proprietary supply chain technology, expand its farm and florist networks, grow the team and launch a new native app.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Crunchbase; The Bouqs Company, Company Profile".
  2. 1 2 YEC Member Spotlight: John Tabis, Founder & CEO, The Bouqs Company. (Interview). Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  3. 1 2 "Startup The Bouqs Company".
  4. ↑ Weissman, Saya (2014-01-20). "Deutsch LA takes on a new client". Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  5. 1 2 "Los Angeles' 5 Best Florists".
  6. ↑ "Molly Sims Teams Up With The Bouqs". People. 2013-11-19. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  7. ↑ "Angel List". Angel.co. 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  8. ↑ "John Tabis: Founder Of The Bouqs Company". KillerStartups. 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  9. ↑ "From a brand perspective, especially among Women, there’s no greater endorsement than Oprah.". Retrieved 13 August 2014. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  10. ↑ "Business is Blooming at The Bouqs Company - Closes $6 Million Series A Financing Round led by Azure Capital Partners". Newswire. 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  11. ↑ Holtan, Kyle (March 7, 2013). "John Tabis ('06) and the blooming of TheBouqs.com". UCLA Anderson Blog. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "The Bouqs Comes Up Empty On Shark Tank, But They're Still Kicking". tech.co. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  13. ↑ company, The Bouqs. "The Bouqs Company Announces New Board and Team, An All-new User Experience, and Development Deal". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  14. ↑ Josh Ong (2013-06-25). "Online flower company receives $1.1M seed funding from Quest Venture Partners, Siemer Ventures". Thenextweb.com. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  15. ↑ "SGVC Company Profile". Crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  16. ↑ Yang, Melissah (June 26, 2014). "The Bouqs Blossoms With $6 Million Series A Round". LA Business Journal. Retrieved 8 July 2014.


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