

Callia, a Winnipeg-based direct-to-consumer floral delivery company, has secured C$6.4 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by Brightspark, with participation from Golden Ventures, Sandpiper Ventures and others. Callia earlier this year closed a C$1.1 million seed deal led by Conexus Venture Capital and joined by Lex Capital Corp and Broad Street Bulls.
PRESS RELEASE
WINNIPEG – October 13, 2021 – Callia , a leading Canadian direct-to-consumer floral delivery company, announced today a $6.4M Series A round led by Brightspark, with participation from Golden Ventures and Sandpiper Ventures among others. Since its inception in 2016, Callia has been disrupting the Canadian floral market with continued innovation and growth, most recently with 4x sales growth compared to last year. With a relentless focus on customer experience, backed by unique logistics and supply chain technology, the company has quickly seeded itself as Canada’s go-to ecommerce direct-to-consumer floral brand. Their ability to control the entire user experience by vertically integrating the entire supply chain from warehouses to drivers has created a new standard for customer happiness and loyalty, demonstrated by their industry-leading 91 Net Promoter Score (NPS).
“Our team is looking at flowers from a new point of view, leveraging our backgrounds in consumer brand management at industry leaders like Procter & Gamble and Best Buy to prioritize a perfect “white glove” customer experience,” says founder and CEO, Catherine Metrycki.
The new investment will further Callia’s development and expansion into new markets in the US, improve operational services including same day last-mile delivery, as well as expand infrastructure and automation.
Callia does flower delivery differently, focusing on creating memorable experiences for senders and recipients. The company currently operates in over 300+ places across Canada and the US. They pride themselves on delivering fresh, hand-tied seasonal bouquets that are true to the ones customers see on the website and order online easily in only a few clicks. This year, they were recognized as #44 in the Globe and Mail’s fastest growing companies list.
“At Brightspark, we have seen huge success from e-commerce companies challenging the status quo and focusing on exceptional customer experiences – this is what Callia is doing with their unique approach to floral gifting.” says Sophie Forest, Managing Partner at Brightspark. “The industry is prime for disruption, and we believe that there are no better people than Catherine and her team to execute on this vision.”
“Gifting flowers is a totally different category than traditional eCommerce or Direct-To-Consumer — it is a highly perishable product, delivered on a very specific date and time, to an unexpecting recipient. We’re excited to be a disruptor building tech and logistics infrastructure to create an outstanding experience in this space, with new partners on board to help us grow even faster.”, Metrycki concludes.
To learn more about Callia, visit Callia.com or follow along at Instagram and Facebook.
About Callia
Callia elevates the experience of sending flowers and sets out to add more special moments in everyday lives. Flowers have the ability to share love, kindness and hope – Callia makes sending great quality bouquets simple and fast, so you can focus on making those moments happen. Founded in Winnipeg in 2016, Callia delivers in over 300+ places across Canada and the US. To learn more, visit Callia.com and follow #thiscalliamoment on Instagram and Facebook.
About Brightspark
Brightspark Ventures is one of Canada’s top performing venture capital firms, actively investing in exceptional entrepreneurs since 1999. They provide growth capital and expertise to disruptive, market-transforming Canadian tech companies in seed to growth stages. Since inception, Brightspark has invested across traditional VC Funds, and more recently under an investment model open to individual and non-institutional investors. www.brightspark.com