Patterns Brands, the DTC holding company that evolved out of brand agency Gin Lane, has announced that it has taken on $60 million in new debt and capital equity financing and that it has acquired silicone utensil specialist GIR. As part of the announcement, Pattern announced that it was planning on using some of that new funding to hunt for other interesting DTC brands to scoop up.
From the announcement:
By definition, what we’re doing is a roll-up. But our interest lies where it always has, since before this trend started. We care about building brands that matter to our generation. And what some roll-ups risk missing is that lasting value doesn’t come from forcing big, short-term profits. You have to strengthen the brands. You have to give them a community where they can thrive.
Up to this point, Pattern has consisted of two brands: The Equal Parts cookware and Open Spaces storage products brand. Spoon readers may remember we’ve written about Equal Parts early experiment of bundling text-based guidance from chefs with their cookware. The company looks like they’ve since dropped those early efforts at bundling cooking guidance and have become a more traditional DTC cookware brand.
For its part, GIR got its start when founder Samantha Rose had a successful Kickstarter campaign for a silicone spatula, has since become pretty successful kitchen utensil and accessory business.
One thing that’s not clear is whether the deal includes the Voltaire coffee grinder business. Back in 2015-16, GIR founder Rose had launched a Kickstarter campaign for an IoT connected burr coffee grinder. It took a while for GIR to ship the grinder and eventually it did. The grinder got its own website and looks like it might be a separate business at this point.
Pattern is one of a number of home goods startups looking to become the preferred brand of millennials as they settle down, buy homes and just generally begin acting more like their parents. Pattern, Caraway and Misen have all taken fresh looks at housewares categories and have focused on building robust direct-to-consumer channels through online storefronts and social media.
Last year, Storebound, which combined a similarly adventurous approach around categories with an heavy focus on online channels was acquired by Groupe SEB. With Pattern’s new debt and equity-funded warchest, I have to wonder if we’ll see a flurry of new DTC home goods acquisitions as bigger brands look to scoop up those brands with fast-growing businesses.
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