News
HPVP Announces Successful Sale of Soft Sight, Inc. (d/b/a Threadsmith) to Vistaprint (NASDAQ: VPRT)
High Peaks Venture Partners is pleased to announce that Endicott, NY based Soft Sight, Inc. (which does business under the name Threadsmith.com), a High Peaks portfolio company funded in early 2008, has been acquired by Boston-based Vistaprint (NASDAQ: VPRT) in an all cash transaction. The deal closed on December 30, 2009. While financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed, the deal generated an excellent outcome for HPVP, with a high double digits annualized return rate.
Soft Sight offers the world’s only on-demand custom embroidery and apparel embellishment solution. This offering is based on technology developed by founder David Goldman as part of his computer science PhD work at Binghamton University. Following HPVP’s investment in early 2008, the company launched the Threadsmith.com online custom embroidery business. Threadsmith’s patented technology enables rapid, real-time custom embroidery design and fulfillment. This process revolutionizes the custom apparel business, enabling quality, custom-embellished apparel & accessories to be designed and customized in real time and orders to be placed with no costly setup charges or lengthy processes.
Since HPVP’s investment in January of 2008, the company completed the deployment of this core technology to the web, opened a state-of-the-art production facility at their headquarters near Binghamton, NY, and built a world class development operation in India under the leadership of Technology Lead Nirav Patel. Through the second half of 2009, Threadsmith realized greater than 30% month-over-month revenue growth as the company’s powerful service rapidly penetrated the market. On the strength of this exceptional performance, the company received multiple, attractive offers for additional VC investment in Q4 2009. Ultimately, however, Vistaprint presented an acquisition offer that the Company’s board felt represented the best opportunity for shareholders.
“We are thrilled to realize a very successful outcome from our investment in Soft Sight,” said HPVP Managing Director Brad Svrluga. “It has been a unique pleasure working with David, Nirav and the entire Soft Sight team. It is always somewhat bittersweet to sell a high potential company so quickly – we were excited by the opportunity to continue building a powerful standalone business, but this opportunity, with this acquirer, is clearly the right deal at the right time. It’s a great achievement for the company, a wonderfully profitable outcome for us as investors, and we’re proud to have been a part of it.”
Founder and CEO David Goldman added, “This is a very exciting day for all Soft Sight shareholders. I’m thrilled to be moving on to this next stage in Threadsmith’s development. And I’m particularly grateful for the tremendous support that we have received from the High Peaks team over the past two years. Their commitment as investors went far beyond the check they wrote. They were a partner in the truest sense of the word, and a critical contributor to our success.”
The Threadsmith.com website will be closed for a few months during an integration process with Vistaprint’s operations, but Threadsmith’s service will relaunch later this year better than ever.
For questions please contact Brad Svrluga at brad@hpvp.com or 518-720-3090.
