Frontier Growth, a private equity firm based in Charlotte, NC, has invested in Toronto-headquartered commonsku, which provides software solutions specifically built for the promotional products industry.

Financial details of the investment weren’t released, but commonsku founders Catherine and Mark Graham have retained majority ownership of the company. The Grahams, who are members of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people, emphasized that they are the majority shareholders and have majority control.

Mark and Catherine Graham, commonsku

“Our commitment and love for the company, our employees, our customers, and the promotional products industry remains as strong as ever,” said Catherine Graham, CEO of commonsku. “We could not be more excited to continue to make an even bigger impact on the promotional industry and support our customers on their journeys.”

To have that effect in an increasingly complex marketplace in which the cost of competing and innovating continues to rise, commonsku came to believe that the capital power and expertise of the right strategic partner could prove important. The company said it has found that partner in Frontier Growth.

“It is a growth equity firm with a laser focus on healthy, growing, and market-leading industry-specific software companies,” said Mark Graham, commonsku’s president and chief brand officer. “Its portfolio and track record are incredibly impressive, and we are excited to be in the company of exceptional software companies that we can learn from.”

While commonsku had rebuffed approaches from other private equity firms in the past because the firm didn’t need capital, the Grahams said that there were certain important intangibles in play that made Frontier Growth different – a company that would be a true business-building partner worth joining forces with.

“What we immediately saw in Frontier was a culture and mindset that matched our own: kind, humble, and ambitious people with a focus on building great businesses,” Mark Graham said.

Frontier Growth’s investment portfolio includes Wealthbox, a CRM platform for financial advisers; Dinova, a dining expense management platform; and NEOGOV, a public sector human resources software. Frontier made Inc. magazine’s 2022 list of “Founder-Friendly Investors.”

The Grahams were distributors before they founded commonsku – a software developed initially to serve the needs of Rightsleeve, the distributorship the couple ran. The software evolved into a sales, marketing and management solution for the industry. Genumark (asi/204588) acquired Rightsleeve in 2019.

Catherine Graham is excited about what lies ahead for commonsku – and the promo industry more broadly.

“As we all have seen, the industry has increased in complexity, and the expectations of end-users have never been greater,” she said. “With that comes significant opportunities for how technology can solve these challenges, from more flexible e-commerce, more seamless ordering solutions, AI enablement, and stronger integrations into both the supply chain and technology being used to support other areas of the business. We believe there has never been a greater opportunity within the promotional products industry.”

As Frontier Growth’s investment evidences, a growing number of private equity firms think so, too. PE investment in promo has increased significantly in recent years and some of promo’s biggest companies are private equity-owned, including HALO Branded Solutions (asi/356000) and S&S Activewear (asi/84358).