Petalfox
Weekly flower subscription you can get, gift or skip anytime bespoke blooms arrive at your desk, digs or door each week.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
N/A | Seed | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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Petalfox operated as a text-commerce flower delivery company, founded in 2017 by Kelly Nyland and Rhenee Bartlett and based in El Segundo, California. The founders leveraged their extensive backgrounds in technology and brand-building; Nyland had spent 15 years in the tech industry, while Bartlett had over 20 years of experience architecting brand strategies, including a role at Snapchat where the two met. The venture was backed by investors such as Precursor Ventures, Bolt Fund, and Sage Hill Investors.
The company's business model centered on a flexible subscription service managed entirely via SMS, which it described as personalized, conversational commerce. This approach targeted the significant market of women who purchase over 65% of flowers for themselves in the U.S. Petalfox's service was designed to eliminate the common hassles of subscription management, offering a commitment-free experience without the need to remember to cancel or manage orders online.
Each week, Petalfox would curate a new flower arrangement inspired by trends in fashion and decor. Subscribers received a text message containing a mood board and a photo of the upcoming week's arrangement. They could then decide to "get," "gift," or "skip" the delivery by simply replying to the text. Initial checkout for bouquet credits was done through a secure online portal, with all subsequent purchases handled directly within the SMS thread. The company operated its own vertical supply chain and developed a proprietary checkout-over-text platform that processed over 12,000 transactions. By May 2019, the service had expanded from the West Coast to deliver to 16 states, including several on the East Coast. The company is now listed as deadpooled.
Keywords: text-commerce, flower delivery, subscription service, conversational commerce, SMS-based ordering, floral arrangements, direct-to-consumer flowers, e-commerce, lifestyle brand, mobile commerce, curated bouquets, personalized shopping, flexible subscription, Rhenee Bartlett, Kelly Nyland, Bolt Fund, Precursor Ventures, on-demand flowers, floral gifting, vertical supply chain