Brandito headquarters is located at 2100 Tomlynn St. (Charlotte Matherly photo)
A fast-growing local branding firm has landed a private equity-backed cash infusion.
Brandito, which designs and sells promotional merchandise alongside other services, struck a deal this month with Chicago-based private equity investor Monroe Street Partners.
The transaction involved Brandito founder and President Michael Lovern selling a majority stake of the company to the investment group. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2009, Brandito peddles the sort of goods – T-shirts, coffee mugs, pens and other tchotchkes – that companies put their name on and give out as gifts for clients and employees. It also offers services including customized online stores and creative marketing.
Its growth has exploded in recent years, just this week landing at the No. 2,675 spot on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list, which ranks the country’s fastest-growing companies. This marks Brandito’s eighth consecutive year making the list, and its revenue grew 201 percent over the past three years, according to the list.
Michael Lovern
“We’ve been able to be successful by really giving the industry, or the promotional products buying experience, a facelift,” Lovern said. “We’re in an industry that isn’t necessarily sexy, but it should be fun. It should have some sophistication that comes with it.”
Brandito has grown to 60 employees. Its office is located at 2100 Tomlynn St., near the Interstate 95 and 195 interchange and across the street from Topgolf.
With continued growth in mind, Lovern said he began the search for an equity investor about a year ago.
“It became very apparent to me that the next chapter in where we wanted to go as an organization was going to take some additional resources,” Lovern said.
In his search, Lovern met Monroe Street Partners founders Ken Mill and Alex Foshager, two former Goldman Sachs investment bankers who founded the private equity firm last year.
Lovern said he was immediately comfortable with the duo, who shared Brandito’s vision for growth.
“These were guys that we had an immediate connection with, and I’m a very firm believer that lots of people or companies or equity groups can come in and provide the resources necessary – there’s no question about that – but it’s about the people,” Lovern said. “They were just a natural fit.”
Lovern retains a significant minority equity stake in the company, he said, and will stay on as president.
The Monroe Street Partners deal is the second time Brandito took on an investor.
Mill said Monroe Street Partners looks for companies at what he called an “inflection point.” Every time a business doubles in size, he said, it needs to update its systems and plug in additional horsepower. That’s where MSP steps in.
“We’re not the type of private equity firm that comes in and slashes headcount. … We’re quite the opposite,” Mill said. “We try to invest, try to give teams a little bit more firepower and operating resources, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here with Brandito.”
Ken Mill
Brandito is MSP’s second investment.
Mill said MSP isn’t looking to make any significant changes to Brandito’s staff. He said he expects the biggest thing will be looking for opportunities to grow Brandito through acquisitions – something Lovern’s firm hasn’t explored before.
Lovern said Brandito had previously brought in Walnut Grove Holdings, a Richmond-based venture capital firm founded in 2011, as an early investor.
When asked about other areas of growth the private equity deal will aid, Lovern didn’t spell out specific plans but said this could include geographic expansion, enhancing services, improving technology and adding products and services.
“It is really about being the gold standard of our industry. We in large part feel like we have been a part of the change in our industry and the growth and the evolution, and we only want to continue that,” Lovern said. “We want to continue to push what the status quo looks like when it comes to promotional products and the services that are behind promotional products.”
Lovern declined to disclose Brandito’s annual revenue and size of its client base.
Brandito headquarters is located at 2100 Tomlynn St. (Charlotte Matherly photo)
A fast-growing local branding firm has landed a private equity-backed cash infusion.
Brandito, which designs and sells promotional merchandise alongside other services, struck a deal this month with Chicago-based private equity investor Monroe Street Partners.
The transaction involved Brandito founder and President Michael Lovern selling a majority stake of the company to the investment group. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2009, Brandito peddles the sort of goods – T-shirts, coffee mugs, pens and other tchotchkes – that companies put their name on and give out as gifts for clients and employees. It also offers services including customized online stores and creative marketing.
Its growth has exploded in recent years, just this week landing at the No. 2,675 spot on Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5000 list, which ranks the country’s fastest-growing companies. This marks Brandito’s eighth consecutive year making the list, and its revenue grew 201 percent over the past three years, according to the list.
Michael Lovern
“We’ve been able to be successful by really giving the industry, or the promotional products buying experience, a facelift,” Lovern said. “We’re in an industry that isn’t necessarily sexy, but it should be fun. It should have some sophistication that comes with it.”
Brandito has grown to 60 employees. Its office is located at 2100 Tomlynn St., near the Interstate 95 and 195 interchange and across the street from Topgolf.
With continued growth in mind, Lovern said he began the search for an equity investor about a year ago.
“It became very apparent to me that the next chapter in where we wanted to go as an organization was going to take some additional resources,” Lovern said.
In his search, Lovern met Monroe Street Partners founders Ken Mill and Alex Foshager, two former Goldman Sachs investment bankers who founded the private equity firm last year.
Lovern said he was immediately comfortable with the duo, who shared Brandito’s vision for growth.
“These were guys that we had an immediate connection with, and I’m a very firm believer that lots of people or companies or equity groups can come in and provide the resources necessary – there’s no question about that – but it’s about the people,” Lovern said. “They were just a natural fit.”
Lovern retains a significant minority equity stake in the company, he said, and will stay on as president.
The Monroe Street Partners deal is the second time Brandito took on an investor.
Mill said Monroe Street Partners looks for companies at what he called an “inflection point.” Every time a business doubles in size, he said, it needs to update its systems and plug in additional horsepower. That’s where MSP steps in.
“We’re not the type of private equity firm that comes in and slashes headcount. … We’re quite the opposite,” Mill said. “We try to invest, try to give teams a little bit more firepower and operating resources, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here with Brandito.”
Ken Mill
Brandito is MSP’s second investment.
Mill said MSP isn’t looking to make any significant changes to Brandito’s staff. He said he expects the biggest thing will be looking for opportunities to grow Brandito through acquisitions – something Lovern’s firm hasn’t explored before.
Lovern said Brandito had previously brought in Walnut Grove Holdings, a Richmond-based venture capital firm founded in 2011, as an early investor.
When asked about other areas of growth the private equity deal will aid, Lovern didn’t spell out specific plans but said this could include geographic expansion, enhancing services, improving technology and adding products and services.
“It is really about being the gold standard of our industry. We in large part feel like we have been a part of the change in our industry and the growth and the evolution, and we only want to continue that,” Lovern said. “We want to continue to push what the status quo looks like when it comes to promotional products and the services that are behind promotional products.”
Lovern declined to disclose Brandito’s annual revenue and size of its client base.
Congratulations Michael!
Awesome stuff, Brandito!
Congratulations Michael! This is great!