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Hodinkee Hires New CEO, Raises $40M in Funding
Toby Bateman, former managing director of Mr. Porter, will head Hodinkee, leaving founder and former CEO Benjamin Clymer to focus on content.
Tony Bateman, pictured here, has been appointed CEO of watch site Hodinkee. He previously worked at Mr. Porter for nine year, working as the site’s buying director before stepping into the managing director role.
New York—Hodinkee announced Wednesday it has hired Toby Bateman, one of the founders of online luxury men’s shop Mr. Porter, as its new CEO and closed on a round of $40 million in Series B funding.
TCG, an affiliate of The Chernin Group LLC, led the round, with participation from new and existing investors including: LVMH Luxury Ventures, True Ventures, Tony Fadell’s Future Shape and NFL quarterback Tom Brady.
GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Grammy-winning singer John Mayer were among the additional investors. Mayer, and his extensive watch collection, have appeared in two episodes of Hodinkee’s “Talking Watches” video series.
Fadell, a former Apple executive who’s known as the “Father of the iPod” and later founded Nest Labs, joins Hodinkee’s board.
Hodinkee said it will use the money on both its retail/e-commerce capabilities and to further develop its editorial content.
Bateman, the company’s new CEO, spent nine years at Mr. Porter, working as the site’s buying director for five years before moving into the managing director role.
He is a “longtime friend” of Hodinkee who has a “lifelong passion” for watches, Hodinkee founder and former CEO Benjamin Clymer wrote in an article posted to the site Wednesday.
Bateman officially assumed his new role on Dec. 1, with Clymer becoming the company’s executive chairman.
Clymer said his new position will allow him to “focus on what I love the most about Hodinkee—the stories that got me excited about this business in the first place. You’ll see me more present on the site, in videos, and out there engaging with you, the community.”
In addition to its new CEO, Hodinkee announced Wednesday longtime GQ writer Nick Marino, who has nearly 20 years of experience in newspapers and magazines, will be joining the company to head editorial.
According to the Hodinkee masthead, his title will be senior vice president, content.
Marino joins an editorial team that includes Executive Editor Joe Thompson, Editor-in-Chief Jack Forster, and Managing Editor Stephen Pulvirent.
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