Orangewood leads $40m investment in Win Brands group

Win Brands Group, an omnichannel retail platform, has raised $40 million in funding. Orangewood Partners is the lead investor.

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 2022 — Win Brands Group (“Win”), an omnichannel retail platform that buys and builds category-defining brands, announced today that it has raised $40 million led by Orangewood Partners (“Orangewood”). The new equity investment arrives as Win celebrates a 440% compounded annualized growth rate at the close of 2021.

The funding will support the growth of Win’s omnichannel platform and portfolio of brands. Additionally, the new capital will finance the acquisition of Love Your Melon, a mission-driven outdoor and lifestyle brand that is committed to donating a hat to every child battling cancer and giving 50 percent of net profits to non-profit organizations that lead the fight against pediatric cancer. Since its founding in 2012, Love Your Melon has donated more than $9.4 million to the fight against pediatric cancer and given over 235,000 beanies to children battling cancer and their families. In addition to Love Your Melon’s charitable efforts, the brand has built a passionate fan base for its knit beanies and beloved signature pom-and-patch style, along with new categories such as apparel, home goods, and face masks. Further, Love Your Melon has achieved significant success through licensing with partners including Disney, Marvel, and most recently, a Harry Potter collection that sold out in one hour.

“Our business model is built on two pillars – identifying brilliant, category-defining brands, and developing a world-class infrastructure to drive their growth across channels,” said Kyle Widrick, CEO and co-founder of Win. “Love Your Melon is a terrific addition to our portfolio and is emblematic of what we look for in the businesses we acquire: a category-defining brand in a key vertical, with passionate founders and a clear path for growth. Moreover, the support from Orangewood Partners enables us to advance our mission and create an even stronger platform that will supercharge the growth of our brands.”

Eric Satler, President at Win, added, “We are thrilled to continue to invest and scale where it counts through the partnerships with Love Your Melon and Orangewood. In Love Your Melon, we’ve added a mission-driven leader to our roster that complements our outdoor vertical and has significant opportunities to broaden its product selection. And in Orangewood, we have an incredible partner who understands the value of our platform, brings deep expertise building and scaling consumer brands, and shares our vision for the tremendous opportunity for growth, not only with Love Your Melon, but across Win’s entire portfolio as well.”

Orangewood Managing Partner Neil Goldfarb said, “We are excited to announce our investment in Win Brands Group, which has skillfully designed an unmatched operating system to support growing e-commerce brands. At Orangewood, we have closely followed the trend of e-commerce brand consolidation, and Win’s team of experts bring the ideal mix of product innovation and expansion capabilities. As such, the brands they’ve acquired have proven to grow faster and operate more efficiently than the competition. As partners, we’re eager to help accelerate the company’s already rapid growth and continue to drive value for consumer brands in this new age of retail.”

“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished at Love Your Melon in the last nine years, most importantly of the millions of dollars our team has raised to fight against pediatric cancer,” said Zachary Quinn, founder and co-CEO of Love Your Melon. “Now, as part of Win, we’re equipped with the tools we need to grow faster than ever before by accessing new markets, diversifying our product offering, and expanding our retail footprint. We believe we have found the best partner to lead this brand and its mission into the next chapter.”
Robinson Brog Leinwand Greene Genovese & Gluck, P.C., served as legal counsel to Win.

J.P. Morgan advised Love Your Melon on the transaction.

About Win Brands Group
Win is an omnichannel retail platform that specializes in buying and building category-defining brands. We start by acquiring exceptional, customer-focused companies with a proven track record, then plug in our Shared Services platform of world class experts to take them to the next level. Instead of trying to scale alone, every brand that joins Win becomes part of a ready-made community, and instantly benefits from decades of expertise, as well as pooled resources, shared operational costs, and economies of scale. To learn more about Win, please visit winbg.com.