Fanchest delivers curated boxes featuring licensed merchandise from the NFL, NHL and collegiate teamsfanchest
Proxima Partners, a private equity firm with offices in N.Y. and L.A., has acquired sports gift basket company Fanchest. The Brooklyn-based company delivers curated boxes featuring licensed merchandise from the NFL, NHL and collegiate teams. Proxima's acquisition, which marks the fifth such deal for the firm this year, was completed in-house. Terms were not disclosed. Proxima Managing Dir Andrew Jacobson said, "This acquisition expands Proxima's holdings beyond AdTech and MarTech by adding an e-commerce asset into the portfolio." He added he and his partners are "very avid sports fans, and we feel that sports and e-commerce are areas that we are comfortable and excited about." Fanchest has had over 180,000 customers in its B2C business since launching in '15. However, Proxima's acquisition will now allow Fanchest to further grow its B2B business. "We see B2B as the biggest growth driver and opportunity in the business," said Fanchest co-Founder Dan Weinberg. "Proxima brings expertise, experience and complimentary skills that will help us accelerate strategically. It's really important having their network." Proxima does not have any plans to make major changes to Fanchest's staff. Weinberg and co-Founder & CEO Jeff Lin will continue in their current roles. Jacobson: "One of the critical components in the acquisition for us was to retain a lot of the expertise of the people at Fanchest and the knowledge they have with the execution that they've done to date, which has been great."
CONTINUING TO GROW: Fanchest has its eyes on expanding past its current offerings. Weinberg said, "We're continuing to grow in the college and pro market, but we also see a global opportunity in music and entertainment." Jacobson added, "Within the current infrastructure that Fanchest has, we feel that there is an amazing amount of growth opportunities. Given what we do have from a B2B side -- contacts and expertise with other leagues and markets -- we will definitely try to drive that forward to add additional revenue elements."
