Faction Skis launches into winter with additional USD3 Million Investment

The Faction Collective today announces investment of more than $3M by Swiss-based GoBeyond Angel Investors, Octopus Ventures and a group of proven angel investors. Faction has seen its sales double since the last ski season, and won several industry awards for its innovative and iconic skis, that have attracted the enthusiastic approval of freestyle and freeride skiers in Europe, North America and Asia. Faction will use the additional capital and revenues to expand its range of skis and other products, invest further in technology development, and increase awareness.
 
Faction will also be adding to its management team, with co-founder Alex Hoye becoming full-time CEO to lead its growth. He joins his co-founder Tony McWilliam who continues to lead the company's design studio in Verbier and focus on product and brand innovation. The company expects to add other employees in both its Swiss Headquarters and internationally.
 
Angels investing include Christopher Spray, formerly of Atlas Venture, Anthemis founder Sean Park, the GoBeyond angel group, all of whom will be joining the board, as well as Path founder Dave Morin and Tablefinder founder Karen Hanton.  The company expects to take additional investment before year-end.

Commenting on the investment, co-founder McWilliam said, “ A 'faction' is a group formed to challenge the establishment. From the outset, the Faction Collective emerged out of the need to create skis freestyle and freeride skiing, with design and clothing that reflects our ethos. We are passionate about our sport and about making the very best products possible.  This investment ensures that we will deliver more and better to an Apple-inspired generation of skier brought up with the values we have: There is no substitute for a fanatic focus on design, quality and individual personality.

Balz Roth, Faction board member and Go-Beyond partner added: “Faction has a strong leadership team which has made great progress to date in developing the business under the guidance of experienced entrepreneur and businessman Alex Hoye combined with the design and product vision of Tony McWilliam. There now exists an exciting opportunity to build on its success and scale the business. We look forward to working with the team to realise the potential for Faction to become a major business in the winter sports equipment market.”

Faction was forged in 2006 by a unique team of passionate skiers, each bringing world-beating skills in design, branding, engineering, marketing, logistics and sales.  Most importantly, each form a unit with their need to deliver products freeskiers need, never compromising on quality.