Society Brands has acquired Club EarlyBird, the Indiana-based subscription e-commerce company that sells energy drinks, for undisclosed terms.
The move comes after Society Brands, the online store aggregator in Canton, Ohio, said it had raised an additional $11 million from investors led by Gullane Capital LLC, bringing its total capital commitment to $230 million since its 2020 inception.
Club EarlyBird in Shelbyville, Indiana, has developed a substantial following for its "morning cocktail" and "night cap" drinks through its website, Amazon store and social media. The demand for newly released products often outstrips supply, Society Brands said Tuesday.
Club EarlyBird's cofounders, Chuckie and Shelby Gregory, expect to benefit from Society Brands' leadership, experience and resources as they scale their business and brand.
"Our EarlyBird Morning drink gives the body and brain proper hydration and the needed ingredients for motivation and energy," Shelby Gregory said in a statement. "With our Society Brands partnership, we can scale our business and help millions of people who simply need to get up and get things done."
The Club EarlyBird acquisition illustrates Society Brands' evolving strategy to identify exceptional brands that have visionary leaders and loyal direct-to-consumer bases, the Canton acquirer said.
By year-end, Society Brands expects more than 50% of its revenue to come from direct-to-consumer channels such as Shopify. The rest will be from e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart.com, along with some wholesale revenue, the local company said.
With the addition of Club EarlyBird, Society Brands supports eight brands including Capsule Supplies, Barnesmith, Power Theory and Wolf Tactical and has "a robust pipeline of further acquisitions," the company said.
The e-commerce store aggregator began 2022 by raising $204 million in debt and equity in its first institutional capital raise. Led by co-founder and CEO Michael Sirpilla, the company added to its staff, acquired several online brands and developed technologies intended to generate growth and efficiencies for those brands.
Society Brands won Cleveland Inno's 2023 Inno Madness title.
