Fanatics, the US-based sports memorabilia retailer backed by telecommunications and internet conglomerate SoftBank and e-commerce firm Alibaba, has secured $350m in series E funding, CNBC reported yesterday.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity co-led the round with venture capital firm Thrive Capital. It included Franklin Templeton and Neuberger Berman and valued Fanatics at $6.2bn according to a person familiar with the company’s transactions.
Fanatics’ e-commerce platform sells a range of apparel and memorabilia spanning several American and international sports, and has also branched out into esports items.
Goldman Sachs was placement agent for the round, which was oversubscribed from Fanatics’ initial target of $250m. The series E is expected to be its last round before it pursues a public listing.
The company’s e-commerce operations are up by 30% so far in 2020 according to CNBC, perhaps reflecting the temporary closure of brick-and-mortar rivals during the Covid-19 pandemic.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund led Fanatics’ last round in 2017, when it secured $1bn at a $4.5bn valuation, with the National Football League and Major League Baseball investing a combined $150m.
Alibaba had joined Singaporean government-owned investment firm Temasek to provide $170m for the company in 2013, valuing it at $3.1bn post-money. It had received $150m in equity funding from Insight Partners and Andreessen Horowitz the year before.
