BVGrowth Acquires Email List And Other Assets Of Homesick.com

BVGrowth has acquired the assets of Homesick.com, an artisanal white candle line with scents for countries, cities and states, from BuzzFeed. Terms were not disclosed.

Included in the buy is an email list with hundreds of thousands of names. This will promptly be used for Fourth of July promotions for three new USA candles, says Kyle Widrick, co-founder of BVGrowth.

The email list was “absolutely a big part of our decision,” Widrick says. “Homesick has a very healthy list that had been built up over several years.”

Homesick joins five other digitally native brands within BVGrowth. These include four house brands focusing on Turmeric, an herbal supplement, baby products, jewelry and fashion. Then there is YungRichNation.com, a joint venture with the rap star Migos.

“We’re not an agency-- we actually own all of the brands that we do work for,” Widrick explains.

He adds that the firm has a “hub and spoke model — BVGrowth is the hub and the brands are the spokes.” The objective is to drive customer engagement and scale each of the brands through product development, marketing and logistical oversight.

BuzzFeed is apparently choosing to focus on other priorities.

"It was important for us to find a fast-moving group and platform for Homesick, where the company would be able continue to grow and deliver value to our customers," states Ben Kaufman, Head of BuzzFeed Commerce.

That said, BuzzFeed and BVGrowth will continues as partners on content & commerce projects.

BVGrowth plans to expand Homesick’s core product line and develop new strategic initiatives. It will soon, for example, sell $30 candles Bloomingdales, Amazon, and Macy's.

Widrick is also the co-founder of BVAccel, a Shopify web development agency in which he still holds a equity share and has a seat on the board. He co-founded BVGrowth a year ago.

The company, which expects to achieve eight-digit sales this year, has roughly ten people working across the brands. Widrick determined that it takes ten people to run one effectively, with each assigned to a specific task.

But he also figured out that “if I find the right ten people for those roles, I could have them operate more than one brand.”

The company uses Clavio as its main email partner.

“We’ve set up a pretty comprehensive email marketing funnel and strategy,” Widrick continues. “Obviously, folks that visited the site who have not purchased get one set of emails, folks that have not purchased get another set.”

The firm expects to launch new brands, some with celebrities in the near future.

BVGrowth is backed by. backed by retail, consumer & mobile veterans Christopher Burch, Kim Perell, Rich Antoniello, Shae Hong. But Widrick doesn’t emphasize the funding.

“Many great consumer companies that sell online raise a lot of money and it ends up being too much money. “We focus on the opposite— on how efficient can we be, and how we can make this growth sustainable.” 

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