Walker Edison Receives Minority Investment from Blackstone

May 25, 2021  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

The company’s Founders, Brad Bonham and Matt Davis, and controlling investor Prospect Hill Growth Partners maintain a majority stake.

Walker Edison designs and supplies affordable, ready-to-assemble furniture. Their extensive logistical network and data-driven business model provides an end-to-end solution to leading global e-commerce platforms – allowing their partners to seamlessly offer a wide variety of products with fast shipping to consumers.

 “We’ve made tremendous progress since partnering with Prospect Hill Growth Partners in 2018,” said Bonham. “Adding Blackstone as a partner alongside Prospect Hill is an exciting step in our evolution as a data-centric e-commerce enabler. Our hyper-growth has been driven by our pivot to data, and we believe that growth will only accelerate by partnering with Blackstone’s unique offerings in data science, logistics, and supply chain as we continue to expand across the globe.”

“Walker Edison is a pioneer in its sector and trusted partner to many of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms,” said Jasvinder Khaira, a senior managing director at Blackstone. “The continued shift toward online purchasing and strengthening consumer recovery are two of Blackstone’s highest conviction investment themes – and the company is poised for significant further expansion. We are excited to work with their first-class management team to help further accelerate their growth in the years ahead.”

“Walker Edison’s combination of scale, technology, and product offerings have made it a leader in the fast-growing online furniture industry,” said Ann Chung, managing director at Blackstone. “We believe their business is well positioned to benefit from strong tailwinds moving forward as e-commerce adoption continues to rise – particularly among younger furniture customers.”

David Fiorentino, a partner at Prospect Hill Growth Partners, said: “We continue to believe strongly in the value proposition of Walker Edison as a data-driven, e-commerce enablement solution. We are excited to continue our partnership with the Founders, Brad and Matt, and welcome Blackstone’s expertise in e-commerce as we continue to build a category-leading company across the globe.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Ropes & Gray served as legal advisor and Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Lincoln International, LLC served as financial advisors to Walker Edison. Simpson Thacher Bartlett served as legal advisor to Blackstone.