Muddy Trowel recently announced it has closed a £1M seed investment round led by Evergreen Garden Care (EGC), the leading gardening care company outside North America. Existing investors also participated in the round.
Muddy Trowel is a UK startup founded in April 2020 (during COVID-19 lockdown) and is revolutionising the e-commerce gardening space by targeting amateur and aspiring urban gardeners to help them transform their outdoor spaces (no matter what size).
An estimated over 2.7 million people in the UK took up gardening in 2020 during lockdown, with many younger gardeners getting involved for the first time. The traditional gardening industry can be complicated and confusing for both new and seasoned gardeners, and garden centres are often inaccessible for those who live in urban areas.
Muddy Trowel solves these problems by delivering curated plant kits that help aspiring and amateur gardeners start gardening in a simple, sustainable and joyful way. The plant kits contain long-lasting plants (curated for light preferences and colourway), pots, compost and plant care postcards, and come in a range of sizes to accommodate for a variety of outdoor spaces.
Successful entrepreneur Steve Folwell founded Muddy Trowel after learning of the significant impact lockdown had on the UK horticultural industry. Muddy Trowel’s mission is to deliver joy to customers whilst making gardening accessible for everyone.
EGC produces high quality garden care products designed to help people create their own green oasis amid the rush of modern life, with brands such as Miracle-Gro, Levington, Tomorite and Clear! EGC’s mission is to inspire everyone to create and maintain their own green oasis, indoors or outdoors, in whatever space they have available.
EGC has recently asserted their dedication to sustainability by announcing it is set to increase Peat-Free production capacity with an investment of £7 million in 2022, which aligns strongly with Muddy Trowel’s sustainability values.
Muddy Trowel founder, Steve Folwell said: “This investment and partnership with Evergreen will help us scale even faster across the UK and beyond – we look forward to working with one of the most forward-thinking management teams in the industry to introduce the joy of plants to millions of new gardeners.”
Mark Portman, Managing Director of Evergreen Garden Care, commented: “Following lockdown, we saw an increase of 2.7 million households taking up gardening. With so many new gardeners, we must ensure we are targeting them in a variety of ways and Muddy Trowel offers a fantastic, targeted proposition. We strongly value Steve’s vision and mission for the brand. His success story from a particularly difficult time for all industries is one we want to encourage and nurture as we all move forwards, we are very excited for the future of Muddy Trowel.”