Bloomeffects Raises $2 Million Seed Funding, Plots Expansion

04/16/2021

Bloomeffects, the tulip-based skin care brand, has closed a $2 million seed funding round.

The brand’s chairwoman, Darlene Jordan, led the round. The brand declined to disclose the size of her stake. Bloomeffects launched as a Bluemercury exclusive in October 2019, but it quickly caught on with Credo, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and QVC. It is also slated to launch with Bloomingdale’s this spring. Industry sources estimate the brand’s revenues have nearly tripled year-over-year, with sales expected to reach $3.7 million for 2021.

Bloomeffects hopes to use the funding to drive product development and global expansion. “We’re looking to really invest in product development. We have our own proprietary tulip technology, and we want to be able to use that as a benchmark to share amazing formulas with the rest of the world. The funding round is focused on that,” said Kim Van Haaster, cofounder of Bloomeffects.

Van Haaster, who is married to a fourth-generation Dutch tulip farmer, posits her hero ingredient has unparalleled potential. “We always say for the rose to watch its back,” she said. “Our big-picture dream and goal is that the tulip is known as the most beneficial flower or botanical ingredient in skin care. There’s no question of its efficacy,” she said.

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Bloomeffects, Van Haaster added, sits at the intersection of sustainability, clean formulations and ingredient innovation. “Our ingredients are rooted in stem cell technology and all of the intellectual property. We actually got two government grants [for research],” she said. “Already, Dutch farming practices are known as as some of the most sustainable farming practices in the world.”

The coronavirus pandemic was a blessing in disguise for the founders, who used the lockdown as a time to rethink the strategy. “It gave us an opportunity to really focus on what was important in terms of the business,” Van Haaster said. “Everything we thought of as a ‘norm’ was not anymore. We had to ask ourselves what that meant for our distribution strategy and product development. We paused and rethought some of our products, to really scrutinize the ingredients and efficacy.”

Van Haaster stayed mum on the new launches, but did hint at new ways of utilizing tulips. “In the fall, we’ll be the first ones to upcycle not only the tulip bulb, but the petals of the tulip in our new product. It’s about changing and revolutionizing a 400-year-old industry,” she said, referring to tulip farming in Holland.

Throughout the pandemic, Bloomeffects’ wanderlust-inducing, Holland-centric marketing was a hit with homebound consumers. “In our first lockdown in April 2020, we had a Facebook and Instagram Live just for sunset watching in the tulip fields,” Van Haaster said. “There wasn’t a sales pitch, we just had a social media moment. QVC said it was their most-viewed Live ever. We’re really proud that we can offer people that sense of escapism.”