Impact Capital, the private equity arm of billionaire Mike Repole, last week acquired an unspecified majority stake in Nobull, a training footwear and apparel brand co-founded by ex-Reebok executives Marcus Wilson and Michael Schaeffer in 2015. His plans for the brand may include an eventual initial public offering.
Repole, with a Forbes net worth of $1.5 billion, sold the BodyAmour beverage brand to Coca-Cola in 2021 for $5.6 billion and co-founded Glaceau, parent of the Vitaminwater and Smartwater brands, which was sold to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion in 2007.
Nobull, which currently employs about 100 across the U.S., U.K., and China, raised $160 million in equity from the National Football League’s 32 franchises’ 32 Equity fund in Dec. 2022. But two months ago in May, according to FrontOfficeSports, Nobull laid off 35 percent of its staff and said goodbye to its chief marketing officer, Todd Meleney. The company, which was valued at $500 million in 2021, is a PGA Tour, Crossfit Games and NFL sponsor.
