Portable garden bed company looks to close deal as it eyes expansion
Australian portable garden bed company Vegepod has confirmed it is in advanced talks with private equity investors for a funding injection to fuel expansion into new markets such as the Netherlands and Japan.
Simon Holloway, who co-founded Vegepod, said the company, which distributes its pods in 19 countries, is ready for a step-up.
“We’re ideally looking for a single major investor, a major kick, to continue our product development and global expansion,” he said.
The Australian Financial Review this week reported that Glow Capital was in talks to acquire a 70 per cent stake in Vegepod.
The investment firm was launched in 2021 by former Quadrant Private Equity managing partner Justin Ryan and Adore Beauty co-founder Kate Morris. If completed, the acquisition would be the firm’s first investment.
Holloway said that while both co-founder Matt Harris and himself would remain co-owners, they would look to appoint directors if a deal was closed.
Vegepod, which sprouted from a backyard 13 years ago, had its breakthrough when the founder of RedBalloon, Naomi Simson bought a stake in it on Network Ten’s Shark Tank in 2016.
“We started off scratching around the backyard, had our big moment on the show and have kept expanding,” Holloway said.
The first two years of COVID were a boon for the business, but Holloway said inflation and supply chain issues also bolstered demand for their compact, self-watering garden beds.
“We saw a sharp increase in interest during the pandemic because people were stuck in their homes,” he said. “And the Ukraine war highlighted challenges with food security. People started to question where they could grow fresh, organic food and save money.”
As the business has grown, Holloway has noticed idiosyncrasies in the growing cultures of different markets.
“In some American cities, there’s a distinct drop-off in winter, whereas Australia has a do-it-yourself culture and good growing conditions year-round,” he said. “And despite the snow, Canadians are more into growing than Americans.”
Over the coming months, Vegepod is looking to enter three new markets.
“We’ll become a distributor in the Netherlands in late February or early March, have our first shows and business dealings in Japan in March and enter Italy in April,” Holloway said.
It comes after the launch of their indoor garden beds before Christmas, which Holloway said had shifted the demographic of the company’s customers in existing markets.
“Our flagship outdoor range tended to be popular with people aged over 35,” he said. “But hits on interest and purchases on the indoor unit has moved to younger people. It has much bigger penetration in the 21 to 35 year-old market since it’s more affordable and viable for people living in apartments.”
Glow Capital declined to comment.
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