Summit Park has acquired Artifact Uprising, a provider of personalized photo books, prints and gifts.
A|U’s flagship product is its lay-flat photo book, personally designed by each customer to commemorate significant life events. Additional product offerings include cards, frames, photo prints, and calendars. A|U, led by CEO Brad Kopitz, was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Denver.
“The entire A|U team is excited to join forces with Summit Park, a firm that has significant experience building and investing in rapidly growing direct-to-consumer businesses,” said Mr. Kopitz. “We look forward to this next phase for our company, which will focus on investment in our customer journey across both mobile and desktop, new product development, and a continued commitment to premium products that capture our customer’s most significant life events and bring them into the physical world.”
“We have followed the Artifact Uprising story for years and are excited to partner with Brad and his talented team at this exciting stage of growth,” said Andrew Gilbert, a partner at Summit Park. “The A|U brand has best-in-class products and impressive consumer loyalty and preference. We will focus on driving growth by continuing to expand brand awareness and re-invest in the end-to-end consumer experience. We have a shared vision of the future with management and are thrilled to join the team.”
Digital Fuel Capital, which partnered with management to acquire Artifact Uprising in 2017, will continue to be an investor in the company.
“We have had a fantastic partnership with Brad and the management team at Artifact Uprising and are excited about the resources that Summit Park will bring to the company in support of the mission of building the pre-eminent premium lifestyle brand in the photo products category,” said Carson Biederman, the president of Digital Fuel.
Digital Fuel invests in B2B and B2C e-commerce companies that have positive EBITDA of up to $50 million. The firm was founded by Mr. Biederman in 2012 and is headquartered near Boston in Newton, Massachusetts. Summit Park has partnered with Digital Fuel on earlier transactions including the November 2021 buy of Ledge Lounger, a provider of in-pool furniture and accessories.
Charlotte-headquartered Summit Park invests in lower middle-market companies that have operations primarily based in the Eastern half of the United States and have revenues between $20 million and $150 million, and EBITDA between $4 million and $15 million. Sectors of interest include business and consumer services, light manufacturing, and value-added distribution.
The buy of A|U is Summit Park’s ninth investment for its third fund which closed in August 2018 with $245 million of capital.
Main Street Capital provided the debt financing to support the buy of A|U. Financo|Raymond James was the financial advisor to A|U.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | July 12, 2022
