BBQGuys, an e-commerce platform for grills and related products backed by retired American football stars Eli Manning and Peyton Manning, has agreed to go public through Velocity Acquisition Corp., a blank-check firm.
The transaction values the combined entity at $963 million, and sets up the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based company for future growth, Velocity founder Doug Jacob and BBQGuys CEO Russ Wheeler said in a joint interview. Existing BBQGuys investors including private equity firm Brand Velocity Partners and others including NFL veterans Archie Manning, LaDainian Tomlinson and Steve Hutchinson are slated to own about 71% of the combined entity.
“We’re at the intersection of two really strong categories: outdoor living and e-commerce,” said Wheeler, noting that consumers showed during the pandemic that they were willing to buy more-expensive products online. He pegged BBQGuys’ total addressable market at $46 billion, and said it can be a “one-stop shop” for not only individuals but professionals such as architects and builders.
Source: Bloomberg
