Pattern Brands, a company that acquires home and lifestyle e-commerce businesses, announced today that it has raised $25 million in Series B funding, adding to $60 million of acquisition capital brought in last year. The latest round was led by new investors Toba Capital, Verlinvest and BAM Elevate, alongside existing investors Primary Capital, RRE Ventures and Victory Park Capital.
Since its launch in 2019, the Pattern Brands portfolio has grown to include six businesses—housewares brand Yield, stationery and housewares brand Poketo, cookware company Equal Parts, home organization brand Open Spaces, custom home goods brand Letterfolk and kitchen tools company GIR. “We started building this company because there are all these incredible brands being built in America—there are 1.8 million brands on Shopify today—and we’ve seen this great opportunity to give some of those brand owners the exit they deserve and bring their brands on board to the Pattern portfolio,” says Nick Ling, CEO and co-founder of Pattern Brands.
Ling and his co-founder Suze Dowling and Emmett Shine previously ran Gin Lane, a brand agency that worked with dozens of direct-to-consumer brands across industries. They initially began Pattern with the idea of building their own brands in addition to acquiring fledgling ones but have pivoted that vision over the years and now focus primarily on acquisitions. “Acquiring versus building are just two different routes to get to the same end point,” says Ling, adding that Pattern does not have any current plans to roll out original brands. “You don’t need to reinvent things to build something special. We actually get a lot of motivation from bringing on these brands, which have proven track records of success, and taking them to the next level.”
In Ling’s experience, the ongoing logistical and supply chain challenges that have plagued small and large businesses alike have made burgeoning brands more willing to entertain acquisition offers now than in the past. “That’s the benefit of being able to come into a portfolio—our brands can operate and learn together as one group, and I think more brand owners are seeing that as a real value-add in the current environment,” says Ling.
The new round of capital will allow Pattern to continue buying more brands, and the company plans to announce additional acquisitions in the coming months, says Ling: “We look to acquire brands where there is a community that loves that brand and the products, and that we can stand behind as best in class to really deliver on the kind of proposition they have to consumers. This raise reflects that mission and allows us to go out and continue acquiring.”
An assortment of products from the Pattern Brands portfolio | Courtesy of Pattern
