Nitro Circus Announces Strategic Investment by The Raine Group to Fuel Global Growth

NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Nitro Circus Live and Godfrey Entertainment, respectively the international touring company and intellectual property owner of the Nitro Circus action sports franchise created by Travis Pastrana and Gregg Godfrey in 2003, today announced that they have consolidated Nitro Circus into a single company. The transaction was facilitated by an investment from The Raine Group, a media, sports and entertainment merchant bank headquartered in New York. Terms were not disclosed.  

The investment establishes Nitro Circus as a fully-integrated global youth entertainment company, with opportunities to expand further into television, home entertainment and film. The investment will also facilitate the expansion of the live tour into new markets; enhance sponsorship, apparel and licensing opportunities; launch a new one-of-a-kind permanent show in Las Vegas, and build an elite training academy to help the world's best action sports athletes continue to refine their skills and drive innovation in action sports.

Mike Porra, who will continue as CEO and shareholder in Nitro Circus said, "We are very happy with our company's achievements over the last four years, growing organically.  It is clear that at this time, the right investment could supercharge our growth and allow us to achieve our full potential.  Nitro Circus has the opportunity to become one of the world's leading brands in the youth entertainment space and Raine shares that vision. They are the right investors and we are delighted to have Raine as our partners."

Brandon Gardner, a partner at The Raine Group, today said, "What Mike and the management team have accomplished over the last few years is truly amazing, and we look forward to building on that foundation through our partnership." Brent Richard, who spearheads sports investing at The Raine Group added, "Nitro Circus sits at the unique intersection of global participatory sports, branded intellectual property and youth culture; three themes that we spend significant time thinking about at Raine. We are excited about the many growth opportunities at Nitro Circus and their world-class management team."

Travis Pastrana, founder of Nitro Circus said, "We've come a long way since the first Nitro Circus DVD was released in 2003. At that time I could not have imagined that we would have a TV show airing in 60 countries, a 3D feature film, and a live show touring globally.  We are super pumped to be partnering with The Raine Group to take the brand to the next level."

Nitro Circus is now on tour in Europe and will begin a new North American tour in January 2014, including stops at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Madison Square Garden in New York and the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.  In conjunction with the tour, the company is currently filming their third season of "Nitro Circus Live" to debut on MTV2 Tuesday, November 26 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Nitro Circus is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and recently opened offices in Los Angeles and London. The company plans to expand its executive staff, particularly in the digital media and licensing divisions.

About Nitro Circus Live
Nitro Circus Live, founded by action sports industry veteran Mike Porra, is an international action sports touring company which promotes the highly successful Nitro Circus Live touring show. The first-ever tour in Australia became the highest grossing action sports show in Australian history with almost 120,000 tickets sold. On the back of a successful start in Australia, Nitro Circus Live performed a record-breaking tour of New Zealand, sold out the MGM Las Vegas and shows all across Europe. The tour continues to expand and sell out shows around the world, with stops this year planned in Australia, Europe, Canada, the United States, Mexico, South America, China, Russia and South Africa.  35 shows are currently on sale across the world.

About Godfrey Entertainment
Godfrey Entertainment, creator of the Nitro Circus brand, was founded by Travis Pastrana, Gregg Godfrey and Jeremy Rawle, and has enjoyed a rapid rise to global popularity, started by the innovative DVD series featuring Travis and friends performing outrageous stunts on a range of contraptions. In 2009, Godfrey partnered with MTV to create a new smash hit TV series produced by Godfrey Entertainment and Dickhouse Productions, which is now in its third season and has aired in 60+ countries. 

About The Raine Group
The Raine Group is a global merchant bank focused exclusively on entertainment, digital media and sports. Founded in 2009 by Joseph Ravitch and Jeffrey Sine, in partnership with WME Entertainment, Raine has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Palo Alto and Beijing. With a global reach, Raine focuses on growth equity investments where its deep industry experience and unique network of strategic relationships, limited partners and advisory board members can create value for portfolio companies. For more information visit http://www.raine.com/.

SOURCE Nitro Circus Live

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