TCGplayer has raised $35 million as it expands beyond tabletop games into new digital collectible hobbies.
The Syracuse, N.Y.-based company claims it operates the largest online marketplace for trading card games, and it will expand into new hobbies such as collectible sports cards and comic books.
The money from Vista Credit Partners will help the company accelerate the next phase of its growth.
David Flannery, the president of Vista Credit Partners, said in a statement that TCGplayer is a business at an inflection point. Having successfully capitalized on increased collector demand, the company is now poised for rapid expansion as it continues to build a deep vertical connective tissue joining hobbyists, retailers, and publishers in a $25 billion hobby and collectibles market, Flannery said.
TCGplayer claims its sales grew more than 100% over a year ago, with increasing profits (which is no surprise, as collectible cards — especially Pokémon — soared in value during the pandemic). The company authenticates more than 100,000 products each day and is expected to facilitate the trading of over 70 million products on its platform in 2021. This new funding will accelerate targeted investments in key strategic growth areas across product, technology, and marketing.
“We have maintained triple digit growth for the last 12 months and have been fortunate to fuel all of our hiring needs through our own profitability,” said Chedy Hampson, the CEO of TCGplayer, in a statement. But now hobbyists are returning to their local stores and the company anticipates another tailwind from in-store tournaments and player and artist signings.
TCGplayer recently announced beta programs for in-store tools including an upgraded kiosk and an inventory management plugin that works with the most popular point-of-sale systems. The company also recently doubled its physical footprint in downtown Syracuse, New York and expanded its workforce to over 450 team members, making a number of key executive hires.