Key Takeaways:
- Outdoor Life has a new owner with plans to add an AI-driven marketplace.
- The buyer’s leadership team has past ties to the brand.
- EFormed intends to keep existing editorial and operations staff.
EFormed Ventures, a Bend, Ore.-based investment fund focused on building media marketplaces for enthusiast communities, has acquired Outdoor Life from Recurrent Ventures. The company announced the deal Wednesday.
EFormed plans to integrate an AI-native marketplace that connects readers with content and products from top retailers and brands. The company intends to retain existing editorial and operations staff.
Outdoor Life’s Audience and Coverage
Outdoor Life has served hunters, shooters and anglers since 1898. It became a digital-only publication in 2021 and has since expanded its coverage beyond hunting, fishing and shooting to include off-roading and ATVs, backpacking, hiking and camping.
Resonance 2.0 Powers the Marketplace
The marketplace will run on Resonance 2.0, EFormed’s proprietary AI search, discovery and pricing technology. It uses factors including seasonality, location, online activity and buying habits to make product recommendations and pricing more relevant. EFormed plans to combine that technology with Outdoor Life’s editorial content and decades of gear testing.
“A community of 183 million Americans hike, fish and hunt every year,” Tom Beusse, Managing Partner at EFormed Ventures, said in a statement.
“Now, they’ll have a digital platform combining the breadth of an outdoor marketplace, with the expertise, content and trust that help people choose the right gear, apparel and accessories to get outside.”
EFormed’s Leadership Team
Beusse previously ran Outdoor Life as president of Time4 Media. He, Managing Partner Mike Morford, Scott Blackwell and Lance Reese lead operations at EFormed. Justin Phillips and Dan MacKeigan round out the firm’s leadership.
Blackwell held leadership roles at Beretta USA, Mountain Khaki and Remington. The combined team has worked at companies including Altrec.com, GreatOutdoors.com, Golf.com, Motorsport Network, Sharper Image, Target, Tudor Investment Corporation and UPS.
Outdoor Life’s Legacy
“Outdoor Life’s legacy sits inside a much older American story, one first shaped by the people who gave us a love of wild places,” Morford said in a statement.
“Amelia Earhart, Ernest Hemingway and Theodore Roosevelt are all among the icons whose adventures are chronicled in pages of Outdoor Life. The brand has earned its readers’ trust one season and one honest story at a time. We’re here to build on that with an investment in the future and a focus on engaging the next generation.”
