New York – November 11, 2013 – Nitro Circus Live and Godfrey Entertainment, respectively the international touring company and
intellectual property owner of the Nitro Circus action sports franchise
created by Travis Pastrana and Gregg Godfrey in 2003, today announced
that they have consolidated Nitro Circus into a single company. The
transaction was facilitated by an investment from The Raine Group, a
media, sports and entertainment merchant bank headquartered in New
York. Terms were not disclosed.
The investment establishes Nitro Circus as a fully-integrated global
youth entertainment company, with opportunities to expand further into
television, home entertainment and film. The investment will also
facilitate the expansion of the live tour into new markets; enhance
sponsorship, apparel and licensing opportunities; launch a new
one-of-a-kind permanent show in Las Vegas, and build an elite training
academy to help the world’s best action sports athletes continue to
refine their skills and drive innovation in action sports.
Mike Porra, who will continue as CEO and shareholder in Nitro Circus
said, “We are very happy with our company’s achievements over the last
four years, growing organically. It is clear that at this time, the
right investment could supercharge our growth and allow us to achieve
our full potential. Nitro Circus has the opportunity to become one of
the world’s leading brands in the youth entertainment space and Raine
shares that vision. They are the right investors and we are delighted
to have Raine as our partners.”
Brandon Gardner, a partner at The Raine Group, today said, “What Mike
and the management team have accomplished over the last few years is
truly amazing, and we look forward to building on that foundation
through our partnership.” Brent Richard, who spearheads sports
investing at The Raine Group added, “Nitro Circus sits at the unique
intersection of global participatory sports, branded intellectual
property and youth culture; three themes that we spend significant time
thinking about at Raine. We are excited about the many growth
opportunities at Nitro Circus and their world-class management team.”
Travis Pastrana, founder of Nitro Circus said, “We’ve come a long way
since the first Nitro Circus DVD was released in 2003. At that time I
could not have imagined that we would have a TV show airing in 60
countries, a 3D feature film, and a live show touring globally. We are
super pumped to be partnering with The Raine Group to take the brand to
the next level.”
Nitro Circus is now on tour in Europe and will begin a new North
American tour in January 2014, including stops at the Copps Coliseum in
Hamilton, Ontario, Madison Square Garden in New York and the MGM Grand
Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In conjunction with the tour, the company is
currently filming their third season of “Nitro Circus Live” to debut on
MTV2 Tuesday, November 26 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Nitro Circus is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and recently opened
offices in Los Angeles and London. The company plans to expand its
executive staff, particularly in the digital media and licensing
divisions.
About Nitro Circus Live
Nitro Circus Live, founded by action sports industry veteran Mike
Porra, is an international action sports touring company which promotes
the highly successful Nitro Circus Live touring show. The first-ever
tour in Australia became the highest grossing action sports show in
Australian history with almost 120,000 tickets sold. On the back of a
successful start in Australia, Nitro Circus Live performed a
record-breaking tour of New Zealand, sold out the MGM Las Vegas and
shows all across Europe. The tour continues to expand and sell out shows
around the world, with stops this year planned in Australia, Europe,
Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America, China, Russia and
South Africa. 35 shows are currently on sale across the world.
About Godfrey Entertainment
Godfrey Entertainment, creator of the Nitro Circus brand, was founded
by Travis Pastrana, Gregg Godfrey and Jeremy Rawle, and has enjoyed a
rapid rise to global popularity, started by the innovative DVD series
featuring Travis and friends performing outrageous stunts on a range of
contraptions. In 2009, Godfrey partnered with MTV to create a new smash
hit TV series produced by Godfrey Entertainment and Dickhouse
Productions, which is now in its third season and has aired in 60+
countries.
About The Raine Group
The Raine Group is a global merchant bank focused exclusively on
entertainment, digital media and sports. Founded in 2009 by Joseph
Ravitch and Jeffrey Sine, in partnership with WME Entertainment, Raine
has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Beijing. With a
global reach, Raine focuses on growth equity investments where its deep
industry experience and unique network of strategic relationships,
limited partners and advisory board members can create value for
portfolio companies. For more information visit http://www.raine.com/
By press release
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