Denver-based and female-founded online landscape design startup Tilly announced this month it raised $1 million in pre-seed funding and reported seven times year-over-year business growth during the pandemic.
Tilly co-founder and president Alexis Sutton told Denver Business Journal that the company will be launching a new digital experience for customers along with a soon-to-be-disclosed nonprofit deal.
"Looking ahead, landscape design is just the beginning of our journey with today's homeowner, as we are committed to sticking with them for all of their outdoor living needs," Sutton said.
Among the notable investors in the fundraising effort are Grand Basket CEO Jordan Eisenberg and Matthew Erley, chief growth officer at Stella. Both Eisenberg and Erley have been named to Tilly’s advisory board.
“When you're building a market like this, you need time on your side,” Erley said. He said the funds will buy Tilly — founded by four moms in February 2019 — time to continue development.
Eisenberg noted this $1 million raise is Tilly’s first true fundraising effort.
The fundraising effort started as a friends-and-family round with a goal set at two-thirds of what they reached, said Sutton, who quickly realized the potential and immediate opportunity with the interest of institutional groups like Denver Angels.
Tilly has several hundred customers in the Denver metro area, making the Mile High City the company's second-largest market, behind only metro New York. With two co-founders based in New York and a city full of homeowners who appreciate the value of Tilly'sservice due to high costs and long wait times of traditional landscape designers there, New York quickly grew as a hot spot after Tilly launched as a national service.
Tilly reported seven times year-over-year business growth from 2019 to 2020. Eisenberg, who works in the manufacturing side of patio furniture at Grand Basket, said the pandemic “forever elevated” homeowners’ focus on outdoor spaces.
In the Denver area, Tilly’s fastest-growing customer base owns quarter-acre lots. Sutton said homeowners with a range of home values from $500,000 to $3 million seek their services.
Sutton said the Denver area is the “perfect market” for their service, which is available across the entire U.S. as well as Canada. Sutton, who lived in New York, Chicago and San Francisco prior to Denver, said there is a small-town vibe in Denver and due to the Mile High City being very residential, word of mouthand networking have really paid off here.
As one of only a few Denver-based, female-founded, consumer-facing startups, Sutton said she has been “floored” by the generosity of Denver’s startup community, which shattered the ceiling of Tilly's original fundraising expectations.
"Based in Denver myself, this level of hometown support is incredibly meaningful, and a testament to the formidable startup ecosystem we are building here," Sutton said.
Tilly has seen an uptick in homeowners deciding to stay in their current homes and update their yards versus attempting to move in the competitive housing market, a trend that Tilly’s co-founder Sarah Finazzo predicted will continue due to rising interest rates.
Landscaping is typically a very intimidating project for the average homeowner, said Eisenberg.
Tilly provides a continual consultation between designer and homeowner, starting with the owner-created personal dashboard of yard-measurements, photos, and idea inspiration. Once the homeowner is paired with a designer, a virtual consultation ensues, wherein the owner connects with the designer via video and walks them around the yard. Designs are finalized following a two-to-three-week process, and Tilly provides instructions for installing the plan.
In Denver, Finazzo says Tilly has seen an increased demand for xeriscaping, the environmentally-friendly service of landscaping that reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation. Further trends the team is noticing in Denver are homeowners’ desire for native plants, hot tubs and outdoor kitchens.
With services starting at $375 for a half-acre lot, Tilly customers can customize their entire yard to fit their landscape wishes. It costs $525 for the back yard, $775 for the full yard and up to $2,400 for the whole yarddepending on yard size and additional add-ons. All of Tilly’s designers, a fully-remote workforce that can reach into the dozens depending on seasonable demand, are landscape architects.
Colorado, which frequently experiences drought, often considers legislation to encourage homeowners to have more environmentally-friendly yards. That would bring an influx of demand for Tilly’s services, Sutton said.
Erley said Tilly provides a service to people who might never have considered a landscape service by providing an affordable e-commerce option that lowers the barrier to entry.
Drawing on years of experience as vice president of growth at Denver-based virtual interior design startup Havenly, Erley plans to be an advisor offering early-stage growth advice while helping Tilly avoid dumping money into paid acquisition channels.
With expansion on the horizon for Tilly, Sutton said landscape design is just the beginning of Tilly’s journey with today’s homeowners and hopes its customer relationships will extend beyond design.
