Jan 26, 2022

Epic Gardening Receives $17.5 Million in New Financing

Epic Gardening, the online gardening destination founded by Kevin Espiritu recently announced an investment of $17.5 million by The Chernin Group (TCG) to finance its continued growth and expansion.

Espiritu is an alumnus of GPN’s 40 Under 40. He was a member of the Class of the Class of 2021.

Founded in 2013, Epic Gardening is a  resource for millions of  gardeners who want to grow their own food and learn creative gardening techniques. Originally started as a hobby for Espiritu, Epic Gardening has grown into a robust content platform for the gardening curious and enthusiast with over 3 million social followers, 10 million lifetime podcast downloads and 10 million blog visits in 2021. Espiritu’s first book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening that teaches readers how to grow food no matter where they live, has sold over 30,000 copies.

“The mission of Epic Gardening is simple, but ambitious: teach the world to grow,” said  Espiritu. “Cultivating plants has been a core part of human life for thousands of years, but info on how to learn the skill set is sorely outdated and inaccessible. My aim with Epic Gardening has always been to ‘learn in public’, and showcase my growing journey on modern platforms, directly to my audience. This investment from TCG will help accelerate that mission dramatically.”

Espiritu is building a network of enthusiastic, relatable, and experienced gardeners to add different growing perspectives and expertise on the Epic Gardening platform.

“From a consumer point of view, learning how to garden with Kevin and team as your companions is an incredibly rich and rewarding experience,” says Luke Beatty, partner at TCG. “Community and authentic engagement are Epic Gardening’s lifeblood, similar to other disruptive brands in the TCG portfolio including MeatEater, Food52 and Surfline. Tens of millions of consumers identify as gardeners and our belief is that they will increasingly turn from big box stores to content-led digital brands.”

Espiritu added, “There’s a massive opportunity to provide world-class gardening education and best-in-class quality gardening products directly to the Epic Gardening community. I’m beyond excited to partner with TCG to help fulfill this mission, as their track record is unparalleled in the content to commerce space. I’ve been consistently impressed not only by their work ethic, but also by their expertise and counsel on growing a creator-led brand like Epic Gardening.”

The investment will be used to bolster Epic’s operations, commerce and content teams and aggressively scale its offering of gardening products and content.