America's #1 Organic Gardening Company Back To The Roots Raises $15M Series D Funding To Accelerate Product Innovation And New Distribution Growth

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Back to the Roots, the world's fastest-growing organic garden brand and largest millennial garden brand, announced today that it has raised $15M in Series D funding to accelerate product innovation and support new distribution growth.

Major investors in the round include S2G Ventures, Loft Growth Partners, Fenwick Brands, Echo Capital, and lawn & garden leaders Steve Hill & Jim Feinson. Current investors in the fast-growing brand include Ayesha Curry, Carmelo Anthony, Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie, and Tony Robbins & Peter Guber (via their fund AoT).

The funding announcement comes at a time of rapid growth and expansion for the Millennial-led, organic garden company, with consumers expected to spend more than $100M this coming year on Back to the Roots products in retail stores and online.

"We have an opportunity to build the garden brand for the next generation — a brand that helps reconnect families back to their food, back to the land, and really, back to each other," said Back to the Roots Co-Founder and Co-CEO Nikhil Arora. "We feel like we're just getting started with all the exciting opportunities ahead of us, and we're grateful to our investors for sharing this vision and helping us to bring it to life."

Back to the Roots began as a college kitchen experiment when Arora and Co-CEO Alejandro Velez were seniors at the University of California, Berkeley. Since then, the company has evolved into a national brand that has disrupted the $48B lawn and garden industry with its innovative and unique products geared toward kids and families. Today, Back to the Roots products can be found in over 10,000 retail locations nationwide, including The Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Walmart, Cost Plus, Albertsons, HEB, Amazon, and Costco.

Over the past two years, Back to the Roots–which first became known for its small-space, indoor grow kits–has expanded its offerings to include outdoor gardening products that range from a line of organic, 100% USA-grown seeds to raised beds to organic peat-free potting soil, all while retaining the brand's core focus on sustainability and ease of use for new gardeners. Back to the Roots now offers products for every type of home gardener — from those with little space using Grow Kits to those who are using the company's soil & seeds in their outdoor garden beds.

Velez, who immigrated as a child to the US from Colombia, and Arora, a 1st generation Indian-American, have been recognized for their innovative spirit and entrepreneurial drive by Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies", BusinessWeek's "Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25", Inc.'s "30 Under 30", Inc. 500, Forbes' "30 Under 30", CNN's "10 Next Entrepreneurs to Watch", BBC's Top Global Social Entrepreneurs, Forbes 40 Under 40, EY Entrepreneur of the Year and President Obama's Champions of Change.

"We are honored to have the continued support of our current investors and many new investors as we write this next chapter for Back to the Roots, expanding our offerings for our customers and deepening our partnerships with our core retail partners," said Back to the Roots Co-CEO Alejandro Velez. "We want to bring Back to the Roots gardening products into every home & classroom in America, and this funding will help us get one step closer to that."

Back to the Roots also puts effort into giving back by introducing gardening to elementary students around the country through their #GrowOneGiveOne campaign: When customers share a photo of their Back to the Roots garden on social media the company donates an organic grow kit and STEM curriculum to an elementary school classroom of the customer's choice.

For more information about Back to the Roots and this round of funding, please visit www.backtotheroots.com

Sawaya Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Back to the Roots in connection with this transaction.

About Back to the Roots
Back to the Roots is an organic gardening company that has evolved from an urban mushroom farm in Oakland, CA to a thriving national brand and the fastest-growing gardening company in the country. With a mission to reconnect everyone back to where food comes from, co-founders Nikhil and Alejandro are transforming the gardening industry by making it easy for anyone, anywhere to grow their own food. Their award-winning line of organic gardening kits and seeds is currently distributed in over 10,000 stores including Walmart, The Home Depot, Target, Lowe's, Whole Foods, and Amazon.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Ida Bo Frazier
The Rose Group/Back to the Roots
[email protected]

SOURCE Back to the Roots

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