Expansion in Core Categories & New Product Lines Fuel Growth Strategy
SAN FRANCISCO, July 19, 2023 –Super7, the premier pop-culture design house and producer of lifestyle-oriented collectibles, toys and apparel, today announced an investment of up to $25M from The Newcastle Network. Newcastle made an initial investment of $12M with plans to invest more in support of Super7’s long-term strategy. The announcement is being made in conjunction with the start of San Diego Comic-Con where the collectibles producer will release 18 exclusive toys and launch a crowdfunded ThunderCats’ Cat’s Lair Playset campaign.
Born from the desire to fill a void in the marketplace, Super7 designs and produces collectibles that capture emotional connections to pop culture’s most loved brands and moments. Since launching in 2001, Super7 has achieved success with product genres including 80s & 90s pop culture, from designer vinyl to deluxe action figures inspired by comics, animation, video games, Hollywood, horror, music, monsters and more. With their strategic partnership with The Newcastle Network, Super7 will continue to focus on its core categories while expanding into new categories and developing new product lines unseen in the current market.
“Super7’s goal has always been to deliver the most unique and sought after high-quality toys, products and experiences, while making them available to as many people as possible,” said Brian Flynn, Founder of Super7. “When exploring investment to fuel our growth, the most important thing was that we stayed true to this ethos. The Newcastle Network is an ideal partner to help us achieve our goals for expansion into new categories for our loyal customers and introduce others to the exciting world of collecting across the globe.”
“Super7 provides a unique and unrivaled customer experience in the collectibles sector,” said Chris Casgar, Managing Partner at The Newcastle Network. “As true fans of pop culture and creative stewards of this explosive category, Brian and the Super7 leadership team are poised for continued growth. We’re thrilled to be their strategic partner, leveraging our expertise in data science, creator & social media marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship to help accelerate their ability to achieve these goals with this beloved business.”
Beginning tomorrow at San Diego Comic-Con (booth #2543), attendees will have access to 18 exclusive new toys including ReAction Figures™, Super Cyborg™ and ULTIMATES!™.Super7 is also kicking off an exciting early bird incentive for ThunderCats’ Cat’s Lair at Comic-Con. The goal is to reach 3,000 backers by July 30thfor fans to receive a Key to Thundera with their Cat’s Lair playset. A complete rundown of San Diego Comic-Con exclusives, pop up shops and activities can be found onSuper7.com, @Super7 on Instagram / Threads, Super7 on Facebook and @Super7store on Twitter.
About Super7
Founded in 2001, Super7 is the premier pop-culture design house and producer of lifestyle-oriented collectibles, toys and apparel based in San Francisco. Led by designer Brian Flynn, Super7 has harnessed the graphics, aesthetics and energy of his youthful obsession with science fiction, giant monsters, comic books, punk rock, skateboarding, robots and rebellion to build a unique and innovative business that crosses all categories and is not bound by traditional manufacturing boundaries. In addition to its owned branded products, Super7 also designed, manufactured and distributed officially licensed programs for G.I. Joe, Transformers, Disney, Powell-Peralta and Peanuts as well as for music legends Iron Maiden, the Misfits, O.D.B, Beastie Boys, and more. For more information, visitwww.super7.com.
About The Newcastle Network
The Newcastle Network is a private equity firm pushing the frontiers of collaboration with its partner companies. We are a passionate group of investors and operators with expertise in data science, creator and social media marketing, innovation, and entrepreneurship that helps companies unlock new levels of growth. Focused on established and performing consumer businesses, we seek to partner with companies where we can provide meaningful value that realizes a team’s most ambitious visions.
Daniel Pickett
AFi founder and Editor-In-Chief Daniel “Julius Marx” Pickett has been around toys his whole life. The first line he ever collected was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line back in the 70s. He has been surrounded by collectables ever since.
In 1999 he was confounded by a lack of information and news about some of his favorite toy lines he was collecting. Since he couldn’t find the information he decided to pursue it himself thinking other people might also be interested in the same news. He started writing a weekly column on the toy industry and action figure for a toy news site and in a years time he tripled the sites daily traffic with his updates, reviews and product features.
He built relationships with every major toy manufacturer and many sculptors, painters and mold makers. He grew his hobby into a world wide expertise that the industry has embraced.
In 2004 he teamed up with his toy buddy Jason “ToyOtter” Geyer and they created their own website www.ActionFigureInsider.com.
Daniel has been quoted in both industry and mass media press outlets. Over the years Daniel and AFi have been sought out as experts in the field. Daniel was regularly featured on “Attack of the Show” on the G4 network as the primary contributor to their “Mint On Card” segment, and our front page has been linked to from USA Today’s
“Pop Candy” Blog twice. Daniel’s content has also been featured on Bloomberg News, MSNBC.com, Time.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, CNN.com, AssociatedPress.com
Wired.com, Fark.com, Boing-Boing, Gizmodo.com, Ain’t It Cool News, the Official
Star Wars blog, Geekologie, G4, CNet and Toy Fare magazine, among many
others. He has consulted on toy lines, books, documentaries and TV shows.
But all of that really just sounds snooty and “tootin’ his own horn” – the long and short of it is that Daniel loves toys and he LOVES talking about them.
