Originally published by the Providence Journal
WARWICK -- Online sports apparel company SquadLocker has secured $1.75 million in venture capital investments to help the Warwick business built out its sales and marketing efforts.
SquadLocker was founded in 2012 by Barrington resident Gary Goldberg, owner of CleanBrands LLC, a maker of anti-allergenic bedding covers. Both businesses are housed in a building at 240 Bald Hill Road that Goldberg purchased about four years ago.
SquadLocker’s online tools allow teams to customize and buy athletic apparel, a task typically handled at the local level by the country’s 15,000 sporting goods retailers.
The company's first investment round was led by George Overholser, chief executive officer of Third Sector Capital Partners and a member of Capital One’s founding management team. Rhode Island’s Slater Technology Fund invested $250,000 in the round. SquadLocker will continue to raise money during the investment round, with a goal of an additional $500,000.
The money will be used to build out SquadLocker’s website, said Todd Grant, the company’s president, so that it will be customized for visitors based on the sport, age level and gender of their teams. The intent is to get as much as possible of that technology work, and related marketing efforts don by other Rhode Island companies, Grant said. To that end, the company has hired Providence technology companies MojoTech and Working Planet to assist it.
SquadLocker also has hired a vice president of engineering to oversee its technology functions. The hiring is among the 15 people SquadLocker plans to add to its staff of about 25 over the next 18 months, Grant said.
The company also fleshed out its board of directors with the investment round as Overholser and a second investor took seats alongside Goldberg. There will be two nonvoting members as well, including Thorne Sparkman of the Slater Fund.
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