ICA invests in women’s sports apparel maker Goal Five, leads $3.5MM equity investment round.
Oakland, CA – Goal Five, the fast-growing, women-led, direct-to-consumer sports apparel brand for women, is the newest addition to ICA’s investment portfolio.
Goal Five is leading the charge to build a new type of sports apparel business by building a brand that seamlessly melds its technical sports apparel products for women, with its mission to bring gender equity to sports. ICA is proud to support the brand’s growth by leading its Seed equity round with a $500K investment.
Based in Oakland, CA, and founded by entrepreneurs Ann Kletz, Carrie Kessler and Keely Wachs, Goal Five is named after the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #5: “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
Under Ann’s leadership, Goal Five has delivered rapid growth while creating the highest possible quality sports apparel for women. In 2020, the company saw 5x year-over-year growth despite manufacturing and shipping challenges caused by the global pandemic.
“This investment comes at an important moment for Goal Five: our company is growing quickly and we have bold plans for the future. Having a partner like ICA, who believes in our mission and understands the potential of this investment, is hugely important,” said Ann Kletz, Goal Five CEO. “Working in partnership with ICA, we feel well positioned to scale the company and bring in the balance of capital to close this round.”
As a nonprofit venture capital Community Development Financial Institution, ICA makes investments that support our mission to accelerate great businesses to close the racial and gender wealth gaps. Goal Five is a prime example of this mission in action. Internally, the company lifts up women’s voices through its majority women-led staff, leadership team, Board of Directors, and investor group. In fact, 92% of Goal Five’s staff and 63% of its advisors are women. The company offers equitable pay, stock options, flexible schedules and remote work from home to all its employees, and it donates a percentage of its profits and apparel to sports organizations serving girls from low-income communities.
“Goal Five’s track-record, high-growth, and impact speak for themselves, and we are absolutely thrilled to be investors,” said John Gough, Chief Investment Officer at ICA, “We think that this deal is an exemplary demonstration of our strategy to support under-capitalized entrepreneurs, and we can’t wait to see what’s to come from Goal Five.”
Goal Five represents the first time ICA is leading an investment round. Goal Five CEO Ann Kletz joins Monica Martinez, CEO of insect snack maker Don Bugito, as ICA’s newest equity investments in 2021.
Goal Five’s manufacturing partner is also participating in the ICA-led funding round. Its partner is a $600M company with Fair Trade-certified factories that produces apparel for other premium, mission-driven brands, such as Patagonia. Goal Five is the very first brand in which it has invested.
“We are proud to be leading this investment round and grateful for great investment partners. We know that ICA’s investments can be leveraged to raise more capital for our companies, and when our companies raise capital, they add new good jobs, and create wealth for their owners and employees,” said Allison Kelly, CEO.
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ICA’s capital will allow Goal Five to execute on its plan to 5x its revenue growth this year. Capital will be deployed toward inventory, marketing and growing the team.
For ICA, the deal represents a new milestone for our expanding Growth Fund. The Growth Fund provides access to growth equity investments of $100,000 to $1,000,000 with a focus on serving entrepreneurs of color and women. Our investment strategy intentionally focuses on racial and gender equity, and supports companies that are committed to our shared mission of wealth creation and distribution to a diverse workforce.
