- Harper + Scott — a leading creative agency that designs bespoke branded merchandise for many brands — announced it raised funding at a $50 million valuation
Harper + Scott, a leading creative agency that designs bespoke branded merchandise for brands like Sephora, L’Oreal, Nike, Carnival, Diageo and COTY, announced that it closed its first investment round with participation from Rotor Capital Partners, Summerfield Capital Management, and former Coach CEO Lew Frankfort. This funding round values Harper + Scott at approximately $50 million.
Along with this funding round, Harper + Scott added John Howard of Rotor Capital Partners, Noah Rabinsky of Summerfield Capital Management, and K5 Global founder Michael Kives to its board of directors for helping drive expansion into media, entertainment, and technology while deepening its agency connection in the retail industry.
Founded in 2014 by Michael Scott Cohen and Jon Alagem, Harper + Scott designs and manufactures innovative branded merchandise, employee gifts, gifts-with-purchase, influencer-marketing and original retail products.
“We are extremely excited to partner with Rotor, Summerfield and their strategic limited partners at this important time in Harper + Scott’s lifecycle. With their partnership we will be able to take our company to new heights, domestically and abroad, to build the company of the future in our industry,” said Jon Alagem, the president of Harper + Scott.
Harper + Scott has offices in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, China, and Vietnam. And it specializes in branded merchandise and premiums, gifts with purchase, private label and custom apparel, packaging and print, employee gifts and rewards and influencer mailers.
“We are looking forward to partnering with Michael, Jon and the Harper + Scott team. They have built a differentiated business in the branded merchandise space by proving there is a lot more to branded merchandise than traditional corporate gifting. There are many applications to their partnership-oriented, insights-driven consultative approach to merchandising and they have only scratched the surface of the opportunity,” added John Howard of Rotor Capital Partners.
Harper + Scott recently designed and produced all of Compass real estate’s branded merchandise as well as built an internal web store utilized by more than 14,000 of its agents. And Sally Hansen worked with Harper + Scott to design and produce an influencer mailer for its Sally Hansen x Jelly Belly collaboration. For Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar, the Harper + Scott team created original illustrations and copy that seamlessly integrated into the Milk Bar brand with a keen focus on creativity, quick turnaround times, and complete transparency.
“The world of branded merchandise has been asleep for many years and in just five years we have proven that by focusing on creativity and innovation, branded merchandise can be even more important to a company’s marketing and retail strategies than digital and print advertisements,” explained Michael Scott Cohen, the CEO of Harper + Scott. “We are excited about what’s still to come over the next five years as we continue to invest in talent, technology and in our incredible clients.”
