Custom Ink has acquired what it says is another innovator in the world of promotional products.

The Fairfax, VA-headquartered branded merch company announced Thursday, Jan. 6, that it has acquired Printfection (asi/299397), a fast-growing enterprise swag management platform that’s appeared on the Inc. 5000 for three years running and whose clients include prominent brands like Salesforce, HubSpot and Zendesk. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Casey Schorr and Kevin Materi founded Printfection.

Executives explained that enterprise end-clients use Printfection’s platform to create, store, manage, track and distribute their custom swag and branded gifts to customers, employees, prospects and communities worldwide.

The deal occurs just two months after Custom Ink acquired Swag.com (asi/287954), a New York-based e-commerce-driven distributor that operates an end-to-end functional and easy-to-navigate promo shopping website.

“Like Swag.com, which joined us in November, Printfection is a pioneer in swag management, and we believe they’ve built the leading platform for enterprise customers,” said Marc Katz, co-founder & CEO of Custom Ink. “In bringing together Printfection’s powerful enterprise solution with Swag.com’s awesome self-service model and Custom Ink’s own robust platform and scale, we’ve assembled a pretty incredible combination of talent, technology and capabilities to meet the end-to-end swag needs of companies and organizations.”

Breaking News: Custom Ink has acquired ecommerce #promoproducts disruptors Swag. com, another sign of the increase in mergers and acquisitions happening now in the promo industry: https://t.co/9PdrzsvADn @asicentral @ASI_MBell @Tim_Andrews_ASI

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) November 8, 2021

According to Custom Ink, Printfection will continue to operate as a largely independent unit, led by its founders, while the companies work together to make the platform available to Custom Ink’s existing enterprise customers and flesh out longer-term integration plans.

In 2004, Casey Schorr and Kevin Materi founded Printfection while they were students at the University of Denver. A decade later, the company pivoted from custom online apparel to a subscription model that provided ongoing swag management services to customers.

Since then, Printfection has built new functionalities into the platform, including real-time inventory management, on-demand global distribution, gift kitting, marketing giveaways, customer rewards, team member swag and incentives for qualified leads.

The work has paid off. Printfection grew year-over-year revenue 85% in 2021 compared to 2020. For a third consecutive year, the firm also made the Inc. 5000, which ranks the fastest growing companies by overall revenue growth over a three-year period.

The company’s co-founders believe even greater success is in the cards thanks to the partnership with Custom Ink.

“This combination will help us deliver on our core mission to elevate the swag experience for our customers and their communities, while allowing our customers to execute their swag initiatives with greater speed, quality and support,” said Materi. “Enterprise customers need a trusted partner and turnkey solution that integrates with their existing apps, like Marketo, to manage their swag from concept to distribution. We’re bringing together the best in the business to serve those needs and automate the entire process.”

Said Schorr: “We all believe custom apparel and other branded products can bring people together, elevate events and strengthen communities. This combination will elevate our ability to serve our existing and future customers with expanded resources, tools and support.”

Founded in 2000, Custom Ink has also leveraged e-commerce to become a disruptor in the merch space. Anyone can visit the company’s site and use an online design tool to create customized/personalized graphics and messaging on products that range from T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts and other apparel, to drinkware, bags, tech accessories and more.

While headquartered in Fairfax, VA, Custom Ink has other operating facilities in Charlottesville, VA; Reno, NV; Dallas; and Los Angeles. The company also offers Custom Ink Fundraising, a platform to raise money and awareness for charities and personal causes through the sale of custom T-shirts.

The Custom Ink/Printfection deal comes as mergers and acquisitions increase again in promo following a pandemic-induced lull. Earlier this week, SnugZ USA, the industry’s 27^th largest supplier, acquired Sweda Company, promo’s 17^th biggest supplier.