Mondo Has Been Acquired by Funko

HOUSTON, June 16, 2022 – GulfStar Group (“GulfStar”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Mondo, a high-end pop culture subsidiary of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, LLC (“Alamo Drafthouse”) by Funko, Inc. (“Funko”) (NASDAQ:FNKO), a leading pop culture lifestyle brand. GulfStar served as the exclusive financial advisor to Alamo Drafthouse, a portfolio company of Altamont Capital Partners (“Altamont”), throughout the transaction, which closed on June 8, 2022.

Founded in Austin, Texas in 2001 by Rob Jones and Tim League, Mondo is an ecommerce enterprise that creates some of the world’s most sought-after collectibles. Mondo’s unique screen-printed fine-art posters, collectible figures and vinyl records regularly sell out online. Mondo collaborates with world-class artists to design and put their own spin on classic and contemporary film, music, video games, toys, apparel, books, television properties and other collectibles.

“Over the past few months, we searched exhaustively to find a perfect partner who saw what was unique and special about Mondo and was in a position to meaningfully invest in Mondo, nurture the team, and further its reach and vision. Funko is exactly that unicorn,” said Tim League, founder and executive chairman of Alamo Drafthouse. “The team that made Mondo amazing is staying together, making the transition to Funko, and will continue their same work with the same creative vision.”

Headquartered in Everett, Washington, Funko designs, sources and distributes licensed pop culture products across multiple categories, including vinyl figures, board games, action toys, plush, apparel, housewares and accessories for consumers who seek tangible ways to connect with their favorite pop culture brands and characters. This acquisition is part of Funko’s strategic growth initiative to maximize its core business, diversify its revenue base, grow its direct-to-consumer channel and extend its reach into international markets.

“Mondo’s devoted fan base and high-end pop culture collectibles make it the perfect complement to Funko’s current portfolio of brands. By leveraging our international distribution and licensing network, we feel well-positioned to expedite the growth of the Mondo brand,” said Andrew Perlmutter, CEO of Funko. “It’s an exciting opportunity to couple Mondo’s already stellar product assortment and aesthetic with Funko’s massive property library.”

“While not devoid of the standard middle market M&A stresses, there was an unusual element of fun that permeated this transaction process,” said Scott Winship, managing director of GulfStar. “Mondo is led by an impressive team of creative and commercial talents who have piloted a ‘hit factory’ of artistically stunning and intensely creative product drops for over 20 years. Maintaining a nuanced brand ethos while constantly evolving an artistic vision over two decades is beyond impressive. Suffice it to say, GulfStar is truly honored to have been brought into the advisory fold on this strategically important transaction.”

Winship added, “We would like to express our sincere gratitude for the enormous effort and intellectual equity imparted by Shelli Taylor, Tim League, Matt Vonderahe, Jeff Pinsker and Erica Vogel from the Alamo Drafthouse team; David Rancatore from the Mondo squad; and Kevin Mason from Altamont. We would also like to heap as much praise as humanly possible on Sean Fogarty, Maggie Scharle and Tyler Stokes of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP for their expert legal stewardship, steady hands and impressive transaction navigation skills. It was a real pleasure spending a few thousand hours in the trenches with you all, and we’re certainly better for the experience.”

The GulfStar team was led by Managing Director Scott Winship with support from Senior Vice President Charles Craig, Associate Jay Lee and Analyst Jack Brady.

About Altamont Capital Partners
Altamont is a private investment firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area with more than $4.5 billion of assets under management. Altamont is focused on investing in middle market businesses where it can partner with leading management teams to help its portfolio companies reach their full potential. The firm’s principals have significant experience building business success stories across a range of industries, including healthcare, business services, financial services, consumer/retail, and industrials.

About GulfStar Group
GulfStar is a leading middle market investment bank headquartered in Houston. GulfStar specializes in providing merger and acquisition advisory services, institutional private placements of equity and debt, and general corporate finance advisory services to companies with revenues or enterprise values generally ranging from $25 million to $350 million. Since its formation in 1990, GulfStar has completed approximately 750 transactions in 37 states and 17 foreign countries across a variety of industries.