As the pandemic forced more people into outdoor hobbies, Omnia Fishing's sales grew 400% in 2021 and are currently on a similar pace this year.
Now the Golden Valley-based e-commerce site, which also deals in fishing data, has raised $4 million to drive growth through user generated content.
The round was led by Dundee Venture Capital and Founder Collective with participation from Bread & Butter Ventures, Great North Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures and Madison Valley Partners.
Omnia sells fishing tackle to anglers based on the fish, lakes and conditions they're likely to encounter in their area. It's expanded throughout the country by partnering with tackle brands and local anglers that provide localized information to customers.
Omnia incentivizes these fishing report authors by giving them free tackle credits when their reports lead to a sale.
CEO and co-founder Matt Johnson said he believes this model is the future of how people will shop and prepare for their fishing trips.
"As much as we're building this for the consumer, we're also building it for these brands who have been hamstrung by big box," Johnson said. "It's kind of a black hole of their marketing spend. There's no data there and they can't form a relationship with the consumer."
Johnson said this diversifies the company's revenue streams and makes it more than an e-commerce business.
The recent fundraising will also go towards growing its 20-person team to add engineers that will help streamline user submissions.
Later this year, Omnia will also move into a 30,000-square-foot warehouse in the southwest metro. (It currently operates out of a 6,000-square-foot warehouse.)
Omnia's last round of fundraising came in Feb. 2021 when it raised $2.1 million.
