Starco Brands has acquired The AOS Group Inc., maker of Art of Sport body and skincare products engineered to power and protect athletes, in an all-stock transaction.
WHO: The Art of Sport, built from the ground up in 2018, makes body and skincare products engineered to power all athletes. With performance-driven formulas and without ingredients your skin does not need, the brand's products give athletes' skin everything it needs to reach peak performance. Art of Sport was founded by serial entrepreneur Matthias Metternich and co-founded by Brian Lee. Kobe Bryant was a founding partner, and the brand's athlete partner roster includes Javier Báez, Sage Erickson, James Harden, Ken Roczen, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Ryan Sheckler.
Starco Brands describes itself as a modern-day invention factory identifying whitespaces across consumer product categories. It draws upon a portfolio of innovative formulas and commercial manufacturing facilities spanning eight product categories with limitless innovation potential.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "Co-founded by Kobe Bryant, one of the world's single greatest sports icons, Art of Sport was uniquely formulated with raw materials designed to absorb contaminants, flush holistically, prepare, refresh and protect athletes' skin. Its brand ethos reflects Kobe's absolute commitment to greatness, making it overwhelmingly compelling and in line with our corporate culture," said Ross Sklar, Starco Brands' founder and CEO. "This brand sits above all three pillars of sport—pregame, game time, and postgame. Today, AOS addresses the postgame with leading-edge deodorants, face and body creams and lotions, and shower and wash-off products designed for today's performance-driven athletes. We believe there has never been an all-encompassing sports brand like AOS with the breadth and elasticity to play in all sports categories."
Added Sklar, "Starco Brands' core competency is inventing and commercializing consumer products that spark excitement in the everyday. Attempting to create unique and behavior-changing line extensions is a huge reason for our investment. We recognize that the opportunity for AOS is far greater than personal care. This brand's pregame and game-time whitespaces, which align perfectly with our manufacturing expertise, include over-the-counter (OTC), respiratory, sun care, women and children, pain management, performance supplements, food, beverage and apparel. It is an absolute honor to lead this company and help fulfill the founders' goal of making AOS a globally recognized and multi-category sports brand that inspires greatness in us all."
"Starco Brands is deeply committed to nurturing and celebrating Kobe's legacy and mindset respectfully and progressively," said AOS' cofounder and former CEO, Matthias Metternich. "Kobe helped design and carry this business from online infancy to thousands of retail locations. He would have loved what Starco Brands brings to the table to expand this business into adjacent categories through new product technologies, killer marketing, powerful celebrity partnerships, and a knack for seeing the whitespaces where others can't."
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