NIL Apparel Brand Campus Ink Secures $2 Million Funding Round
NIL apparel disruptor Campus Ink continues to make headlines with company-wide success. The custom college apparel company burst onto the NIL scene in 2021, immediately after the NCAA removed its moratorium on student-athletes from monetizing their publicity rights.
Since the inception of Campus Ink’s Name, Image, and Likeness arm, the NIL Store Network, the company has partnered with 57 schools to promote NIL merchandise for over 9,000 athletes. Each school partnered with Campus Ink has their own NIL Store that serves as a digital marketplace for fans to purchase university and athlete co-branded apparel and merchandise.
In January, the company announced a landmark figure of over one million dollars in royalty fee payments to student athletes through the NIL Store Network; this tremendous growth did not go unnoticed. While everyone in the college athletic space has become familiar with the company, so too have investors. On March 18, Campus Ink announced a two million dollar round of funding, doubling their previous investment and bringing their overall total to four million dollars.
Campus Ink received funding from multiple investors, however, it was Scrum Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm out of San Francisco, who led the way. Mike Proman, Managing Director & Partner at Scrum Ventures sees the company as integral to the very fabric of the NIL economy; “as colleges and universities continue to lean into NIL, Campus Ink is the connective tissue across multiple stakeholders.”
Proman further goes on to laude the company’s dedication to student athletes, "not only have they built a dynamic business that spans the country, but they have done so by creating trust and credibility with student-athletes through a model that can’t be replicated. As part of this new funding round, we look forward to working closely with the Campus Ink team to accelerate their college and university footprint and help additional athletes realize incremental monetization opportunities.”
A large part of the success of Campus Ink’s NIL Store Network is the equity it has built up with student athletes. Unlike others in the merchandise industry, Campus Ink provides athletes with royalty rates between 20-30%. This comes in stark contrast to other players in the space: it has been reported that industry giant fanatics only offers 4% royalties to athletes on their NIL branded jersey sales.
The NIL Store's athlete centric values are not only helping them quickly expand their network across the nation, but also attracting the attention of investors.
Joining Scrum Venture in the latest stage of funding is Renee Montgomery, a two-time All-American at UConn and two-time WNBA champion, who was moved by the company’s vision.
"Campus Ink’s student-athlete driven mission was one of the main reasons I chose to invest,” said Montgomery, “the NIL Store has already surpassed the 1 million mark on money paid out to athletes and that number is growing rapidly. From athlete to C-Suite, athletes are business minded and I love the concept of players being the CEO of their NIL. Success is a mindset."
With March ahead, the NIL Store Network will be tested. With new heroes appearing every day in the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments, Campus Ink will help athletes capture lightning in a bottle and offer products that can maximize the earning potential of emerging stars.
Steven Farag, CEO of Campus Ink has shown his excitement for the future, "this funding will enable us to scale operations, enhance our technology platform, and establish our presence in new markets, ultimately empowering more students and college athletes in meaningful ways."
Campus Ink has been known as an emerging powerhouse to those who follow the NIL economy. Now, investors have legitimized what so many have been thinking. With the funding to grow into more markets and retailers, not only will Campus Ink continue to grow, but the demand for NIL branded products will increase with it.
