6. Seed & Sprout

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Seed & Sprout's rapid growth once nearly pushed the business to the brink. After rebuilding from the inside out, revenue has reached $27.5 million. The post 6. Seed & Sprout…

Revenue: $27.5 millionGrowth: 165%Founder: Sophie KovicHead office: Byron Bay, NSWYear founded: 2016Employees: 39Industry: RetailWebsite: seedsprout.com.au

Sophie Kovic started Seed & Sprout in Byron Bay in 2016 with a simple idea: make it easier for people to cut down on waste without asking them to overhaul their lives.

The business began with reusable kitchen products, including a lunchbox Kovic developed in her garage, and grew into a much broader range spanning items for the kitchen, pantry, cleaning, personal care and home organisation.

During the COVID years, booming e-commerce demand masked problems behind the scenes. Seed & Sprout says staffing and management issues, expansion into new categories, and weaknesses in forecasting, inventory and fulfilment put pressure on cash flow. The business went into debt and faced the prospect of insolvency.

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That forced a rethink. Kovic joined forces with CEO Rebecca Williams, with Kovic concentrating on brand and creative while Williams took on strategy, product and operations. Together with their team, they tightened forecasting and inventory management, improved margins, and shifted away from pursuing growth at any cost.

The turnaround has been significant. Seed & Sprout now has more than 600 products designed in-house in Byron Bay, while domestic direct-to-consumer sales grew 170% in the last financial year and domestic wholesale sales increased 219%.

Having learnt what can happen when growth outpaces the systems supporting it, Seed & Sprout is deliberately putting its foundations first this time.

The company plans to expand wholesale alongside its direct business and launch direct-to-consumer operations in three international markets. It is also widening its product range and investing in systems and people ahead of that expansion, with the aim of making its next phase of growth more repeatable — and considerably less risky.

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