• Dubai-based B2B floral marketplace Floranow has acquired Saudi Arabia-based distribution business of Saudi Arabia's Astra Farms. The deal is aimed at bringing necessary disruption to the traditional, fragmented Saudi floral market. 
• Founded in 2016, Floranow is a digital-only B2B flower marketplace that connects global producers of flowers and plants from every major exporting hub to regional and international buyers, including florists, hotels, event planners and supermarkets.
• Astra Farm is the Middle East’s largest producer of cut flowers; it runs an extensive distribution network across the Kingdom.

Press release

Floranow, a Dubai-based B2B floral marketplace, announces its acquisition of Astra Farm’s flower distribution business.

Floranow is the MENA region’s first online B2B flower marketplace. The Company’s platform connects global producers of flowers and plants from every major exporting hub to regional and international buyers, including florists, hotels, event planners and supermarkets. Since inception in 2016, Floranow has been revolutionizing floriculture, enabling more efficient and transparent transactions via innovative technology and advanced cool-chain management solutions (i.e., refrigerated logistics). 

Based in Saudi Arabia, Astra Farm is the Middle East’s largest producer of cut flowers and runs an extensive distribution network across the Kingdom. The transaction will disrupt the Kingdom’s floral industry by introducing innovative technology to an otherwise traditional sector and bring greater efficiency to a highly fragmented market. 

The transaction is mutually beneficial. For Saudi retailers and wholesalers, it gives:

Access to the largest and richest assortment of flowers and plants in one convenient marketplace; and

Choice from a selection of over 12,000 articles, from local produce to the expansive network of global growers featured on the Floranow platform

For Floranow, the transaction: Facilitates expansion of the Company’s geographic footprint in the region, at an accelerated pace;

Enables sales of Astra Farms’ wide assortment of products exclusively; and Provides benefits from Astra Farms’ extensive distribution channels and customer base

Floranow’s acquisition of Astra Farm’s floral vertical means the Company is expanding its operations across the GCC and replicating its successful UAE model across the wider region. This strategy is bringing Floranow closer to its mission of enabling direct, transparent, and efficient transactions between growers and buyers all over the world. 

Charif Mzayek, Floranow’s Founder and CEO, commented: “We are very excited about this new opportunity. It will enable us to help the Saudi floriculture sector innovate and thrive via the use of amazing technology and world-class, cool-chain logistics. I am very proud of our team that managed to put the company on a path of expansion and growth despite an extremely challenging business environment.”

Abed Sadeddin, CEO at Astra Farms, said: “We are confident this strategic business alliance will allow both companies to grow and prosper. It will play a pivotal role in offering supplementary services to clients that otherwise would not be available and allow Astra Farms to build brand awareness in brand new markets. We believe Floranow’s technology and logistics platform will optimize current operations, so customers receive an enhanced and timely service.”

Basil Moftah, General Partner at Global Ventures – the lead investor in Floranow - commented: “From the very early days of our partnership, Charif and the Floranow team have consistently demonstrated perseverance and excellence. As a non-essential business operating during COVID, we expected turbulence, but are happy to have been proven wrong. The team showed utmost resilience, culminating in the business coming out stronger than it was pre-pandemic. The Astra acquisition is a testament to that success and growth, bringing consolidation and collaboration to an otherwise highly fragmented regional flower market. We are excited about the future of Floranow.”