US-based online sports apparel retailer Fanatics.com has raised $170m from China-based e-commerce company Alibaba in a round that also featured involvement from Temasek, the Singapore government’s sovereign wealth fund.
Fanatics sells official sports merchandise, providing lines of clothing and memorabilia from all major US sports leagues. The funding has helped lift the sports retailer’s valuation to $3.1bn, double its valuation in 2012.
The new funds will be used to hire additional staff and boost inventory at Fanatics’ recently erected new warehouses. The involvement from Alibaba will allow Fanatics to set global goals, and to acquire rights to merchandise for foreign teams.
In 2012, the company raised $150m from insight venture capital firms Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, alongsode a $75m line of credit from financial services firm Bank of America.