Walltopia released a press release last week regarding their investment in Momentum Climbing. Read the full story here. Below is their statement in its entirety.
The Bulgaria-based climbing wall manufacturer is currently completing its fifth investment in a climbing gym, this time funding Salt Lake City, Utah-based Momentum. After successful investments in the amusement and attraction sector, Walltopia has returned its focus to the climbing industry.
Founded in 1998, Walltopia has become a leading climbing wall manufacturer in the world. The company has grown its share of the US market by combining first class climbing wall design, manufacture and installation with savvy investments in various businesses led by like-minded entrepreneurs. Walltopia’s opportunities and growth accelerated after 2007, when Momentum became the first US-based company to trust a rising eastern European company with its project. Walltopia achieved further prominence in 2012, when Chris Sharma agreed to a sponsorship deal. This also led to the company taking a stake in the Sender One chain in California. These partnerships gave Walltopia a better foothold in the US market, and helped establish our own boundaries and expectations for future investments. Walltopia’s current deal with Momentum is a logical next step for us in the ongoing support of the sport and the industry, along with our previous investments in the US, Canada, Israel, Russia and Bulgaria.
Walltopia is not the only wall manufacturer to invest in climbing gyms. Most major producers have gone even further, owning and directly operating gym chains. Walltopia however does not relate to this model, we are not interested in becoming a gym operator. We remain passionate about designing, developing, manufacturing and delivering top quality products for climbing and amusement industry operators. Walltopia will continue to support the growth of our sport through investments, partnerships and sponsorships – we highly appreciate the climbing industry and see tremendous potential for growth and profit. However, our main focus will always remain on what we excel at – product development and manufacture.
We understand that clients will voice questions and concerns about the company’s ongoing investment strategies. With this in mind, we reiterate our strict adherence to standard business practices with regard to the treatment of customers and the safeguarding of clients’ business plans. A non-disclosure policy has from the beginning been a cornerstone of all Walltopia contracts. In the near future a completely separate entity will be created to take care and run all investments in order to ensure that no financial incentives exist to justify preferential treatment in design, manufacture or product availability within the company.
“We are a high-integrity company that respects its clients,” says Walltopia CEO, Ivaylo Penchev. In addition to managing Walltopia, Penchev is a major shareholder in the Composite-X hold factory that produces holds for over 40 different climbing brands, including Walltopia-owned brand, HRT. Penchev points out that what might appear to be a potential conflict of interest, has never resulted in preferential treatment for HRT over the other clients of Composite-X. “Every client is important for the success of Composite-X, and HRT is just one of them,” he explains.
Walltopia has earned businesses’ trust for 18 years through diligence, persistence, creativity, loyalty and responsibility, thus becoming a preferred wall supplier for many climbing gyms around the world. Today, we maintain relationships of trust and confidentiality with all of our customers, something that will not change regardless of where we invest.
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