Quintas Capital Marks Irish-UAE Alliance with $18M Petal Group Investment

Quintas Capital has just closed an $18 million equity deal with the Petal Group—its very first under a new Managed Equity model—and it’s turning a few heads in both the UAE and Ireland. Petal Group, for those who haven’t come across it yet, runs a cluster of online flower brands like Flowers.ie, FlowersDirect.ie, BloomMagic.ie, and Flowers.ae. Together, they’re shifting thousands of floral gifts every week, from Galway to Dubai, all backed by a tidy proprietary tech platform that smooths deliveries and customer experience.

The company was founded by Garreth Knowd, an entrepreneur with a flair for mixing design and digital efficiency. He’s built a business that’s as much about data and fulfilment tech as it is about roses and lilies. Speaking about the deal, Quintas Capital’s Head of Managed Equity, Kevin MacSweeny, said the partnership with Petal was the first big step for their new investment strategy – one bent on steering high‑growth ventures with international ambitions. He highlighted the group’s scalability and strong tech backbone, saying it was “a landmark first investment” for them.

Quintas, co‑owned by MacSweeny and private‑equity veteran Fawad Tariq Khan, has been positioning itself as a bridge between private investors and high‑potential markets. Khan, who’s based in the UAE, was quick to note that the deal aligned neatly with their vision of an “Irish–Middle East investment corridor.” I reckon that’s a savvy move, given the UAE’s growing appetite for digital‑first consumer brands.

Knowd, meanwhile, said he’s staying on as a shareholder and seemed genuinely upbeat about the collaboration. He mentioned that some of the new investors would also sit on Petal’s board, hinting at a more hands‑on growth strategy. On the flip side, it does put a bit more pressure on Petal to keep the momentum going—but then again, pressure often breeds innovation in startups, doesn’t it?

Behind the scenes, there was the usual scrum of advisers. Grant Thornton managed financial and tech due diligence for Quintas, with A&L Goodbody and Afridi & Angell on the legal side. Petal was supported by PKF Brenson Lawlor for corporate finance and Simmons & Simmons for deal legals. A bit of a faff, perhaps, but these pieces always need nailing down properly if you want to avoid headaches later.

What fascinates me, and I’ve seen this across a few MENA startups Arageek has followed, is what happens when a tech‑enabled Irish outfit takes root in the Gulf. It mirrors a quiet but meaningful shift—we’re no longer just seeing Gulf money flow abroad, but a two‑way exchange of tech, expertise, and market intuition. The idea that a flower‑delivery brand can scale internationally using a home‑built platform might have sounded fanciful a decade ago; now, it’s spot on strategy.

Quintas’s broader platform spans equity, private credit, and an EIIS fund (that’s Ireland’s version of a small‑business investment incentive). Their aim is to “democratise” private markets—basically, letting more investors take a slice of the private deals pie once reserved for the big guns. It’s a noble thought, though… well, we’ll see how that plays out in practice. Private markets can be fickle.

From Arageek’s angle, this sort of cross‑border collaboration is exactly the kind of story we love: a blend of tech‑driven efficiency, regional investment flow, and human ambition. Watching companies like Petal plot their next phase is a reminder that entrepreneurship, especially across MENA and Europe, is definitly blossoming in unexpected places.

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