U.K. garden dot-coms bloom - with investors and growth - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Home Channel News, May 1, 2001

Internet sellers of lawn and garden product may be struggling in the United States. But venture capitalists appear to be flocking to garden-oriented dot-coms in the United Kingdom, where gardeners spend about 3 billion pounds (US$4.3 billion) annually and where the marker is growing at a 9.5 percent annual rate.

Greenfingers.co.uk has raised another 2.5 million pounds, aside from the 5 million pounds it secured last spring. Investors include two respected names in Europe's high-tech sector --England's Amadeus Capital Partners and the Netherlands' Gilde IT. According to Dow Jones Newswires, the CEO of Greenfingers is talking about profitability within 18 months. Another gardening dotcom, Crocus.co.uk, which offers to plant our herbaceous borders, last month secured 2.1 million pounds in new financing.