![]() October was the company’s strongest month to date, with over $700,000 in sales, Parker said. In 2018, Parker said, they did over $3 million in sales and this year is on track to double last year’s results, with between $6 and $7 million in sales. The second year, 2017, they launched their e-commerce site and did over $1 million in sales. Their first year in business they did $365,000 in sales, all done the old-fashioned way, with face-to-face meetings and cold calls to office managers. Then they visited WeWork, and when asked ‘Who else have you worked with?’, they replied “Facebook,” and won WeWork as their second customer, with an order for $19,548 for WeWork summer camp t-shirts. They staked out the Facebook office in New York until they won a $3,405 order for T-shirts, making Facebook their first customer. Then, they set out to land some big name customers that would attract other digitally native clients. Next, they talked to as many millennial office managers as possible to learn how to build the kind of promotional products digital platform they wanted. founders Josh Orbach and Jeremy Parker met in college, at Boston University. The owner of the name initially wanted over $1 million for it, but Parker and Orbach eventually were able to buy it for $200,000. Without that name, Parker said, their plan to reach millennial office managers wouldn’t work. ![]() Parker and Orbach’s first move was to acquire the domain name. They want to be able to do everything on their laptops or phones, and find promotional products that make them, and their companies look good. Those buyers, Parker said, don’t want to page through catalogs or place orders by phone. “The buyer is now a 22 to 25 year old millennial.” “Over the last 10 years the industry has not changed, but the buyer has changed,” he said. The typical buyer of promotional products a decade ago was a 45 to 50 year old office manager, Parker said, and that buyer didn’t mind the old way of doing business. “Every sale was done through catalogs, email back and forth, phone calls, very old school.” “I learned the ins and outs of the industry and I saw how old and broken it was,” he said in an interview. Parker’s first job after college, 12 years ago, was working for a large promotional products company. The founders believe that gives them an opportunity. The industry, the IBISWorld report noted, is also characterized by a low level of technological change. The combined revenues of the four largest companies in the industry – 4Imprint Group PLC, Halo Branded Solutions Inc., PFG Ventures LP, and Bensussen Deutsch & Associates LLC – make up less than 12 percent of the 2019 sales, IBISWorld reported. The promotional products industry is highly fragmented, with over 38,000 businesses in the United States, and with no single company having a market share of greater than 5 percent, according to research firm IBISWorld. Parker and Orbach decided to target the office managers at startups and tech companies who were looking for better quality, curated items that can be imprinted or embroidered with a logo, rather than thousands of inexpensive throwaway items. Audax Private Equity is an integral part of Audax Group, an alternative asset management firm with over $10 billion in assets under has put company logos on Bellroy backpacks, Sonos speakers, Allbirds sneakers, and even a custom bicycle. ![]() The firm employs a disciplined Buy & Build approach to help platform companies execute add-on acquisitions that fuel revenue growth, optimize operations, and significantly increase equity value. Since the firm’s founding in 1999, Audax has invested over $3.5 billion in 96 platform and 470 add-on companies. For more information about Maranon Capital please visit About Audax Private EquityĪudax Private Equity focuses on building leading middle market companies. Since 2008, Maranon has invested $2.1 billion in more than 130 portfolio companies. Maranon’s competitive edge is its multi-product strategies that span the balance sheet with value-added financing and equity co-investments. is an alternative investment management firm focused on private credit investments in middle market companies. More information about HALO is available at About Maranon Capital Through its nationwide account executive network and corporate service team, HALO offers innovative client solutions, priced competitively, and supported by world-class operations and award-winning marketing. HALO, headquartered in Sterling, Illinois, is a leading promotional products distributor in the $20 billion per year promotional products industry. Maranon was also a co-investor in the equity for the transaction. ![]() (“Maranon”) today announced that it was Agent for a mezzanine investment to support the acquisition of HALO Branded Solutions (“HALO”) by Audax Private Equity (“Audax”) and company management.
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