Jacksonville-based sports merchandising firm Fanatics Inc. raised $1.5 billion from a new group of investors that pushed the value of the company to $27 billion, according to March 2 report by The Wall Street Journal.
The company was valued at $18 billion in mid-2021 but continues to attract new investors and expand its operations.
In the past two months, it bought the trading card business of Topps Inc. and a 75% interest in vintage sports jersey firm Mitchell & Ness.
The $1.5 billion investment came from a group including Fidelity Management & Research Co., funds managed by BlackRock Inc. and a company controlled by Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, the Journal reported.
Brothers Alan and Mitchell Trager founded Fanatics in 1995 with a single store in the Orange Park Mall.
The Tragers sold the company in 2011 and it now is part of a Philadelphia-based holding company called Kynetic.