The Faction Collective, a freestyle and freeride ski brand, has secured an investment of more than $3 million from Octopus Investments and a group of proven angel investors. Faction will use the additional capital and revenues to expand its range of skis and other products, invest further in technology development, and increase awareness.
Faction will also add to its management team, with co-founder Alex Hoye becoming full-time CEO to lead its growth. He joins his co-founder Tony McWilliam who continues to lead the company's design studio in Verbier, Switzerland and focus on product and brand innovation. The capital infusion will also allow the company to add employees at both its Swiss headquarters and internationally. Faction distributes in 20 countries and has operations in Verbier, Breckenridge, CO and London.
Angels investing include Christopher Spray, formerly of Atlas Venture, Anthemis founder Sean Park, the GoBeyond angel group, all of whom will be joining the board, as well as Dave Morin of Path, Facebook and Apple. The company expects to take additional investment before year-end.
Earlier in 2012 Faction won the endorsement of multiple X-game champion Candide Thovex. Thovex showcases Faction’s skis in the major feature film Few Words, released in cinemas in October. Faction and Candide also collaborated on the development of Faction's new Superlight series of skis. About 800 grams lighter than traditional models, with cores built from recycled PET and flax with patented pressure treatment, they push the boundaries of ski technology.
“This investment ensures that we will deliver more and better to an Apple-inspired generation of skier brought up with the values we have,” said McWilliam. “There is no substitute for a fanatic focus on design, quality and individual personality.”
Incoming CEO Hoye, adds: “Our team and investors share our vision that Faction is not only part of the double-digit shift in the $7 billion market toward freeskiing at the expense of snowboards and traditional skis, we also deliver on the lean ethos disrupting traditional business rapid product development, global collaboration with top talent, new digital ways to engage with our fans and channel partners, a commitment to company responsibility, and the view that it is not worth doing if it is not simply better. This focus has consistently led us to pioneer new materials and styles, bucking a trend to race-to-the-bottom, cost-only focus in the industry.”
“Tony and I formed Faction after realizing that none of the major ski companies were in tune with the needs and interests of our generation of freeride and freestyle skiers. Data in Europe is not compiled, but using North American data as a reference, freeskiing participation is up 46 percent in the past two years to 20 percent of all skiers. In the same period snowboarding unit sales have declined an average of 9 percent per year over the past three according to the SnowSports Industries Association.”
“From a modest beginning, Faction has emerged as one of the fastest-growing independent brands in the market. Our expectation over the next few years to become a major force in the industry through dedicated focus on building great skis and clothing specifically with this group of skiers in mind.”
Simon Andrews from Octopus who will be joining the board added: “Faction has a strong leadership team which has made good progress to date in developing the business under the guidance of experienced entrepreneur and businessman Alex Hoye, combined with the design and product vision of Tony McWilliam. There now exists an exciting opportunity to build on its success and scale the business. We look forward to working with the team to realise the potential for Faction to become a major business in the winter sports equipment market.”
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