January 4, 2024
New York, NY (January 4, 2024) – EFA Partners, a financial advisory firm that provides investment banking and strategic consulting services for companies in the entertainment and media sectors, today announced that it arranged construction and equipment financing for the new Thrill Factory entertainment venue to be located in Madison, Wisconsin. The opening is planned for the summer of 2024.
Thrill Factory is being developed by Guy Kitchell who has many years of experience in the leisure sector through Thrill Builders, an escape room development and manufacturing company, and Escape In Time, an escape room family entertainment center also located in Madison.
Guy is focused on continuing to grow in the leisure sector with plans to develop and construct additional FECs. His business partners include well-known strategic investors, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary and Jason Blum, who all embraced Guy’s business concept when he presented his plans on the award-winning television series, Shark Tank, this past October.
Thrill Factory will be located in the East Towne Mall just off of Interstate 90. The venue will be a 48,000 sq. ft. multi-attraction entertainment center targeted toward families, children, adults, and special events. It will feature twelve escape rooms, twelve bowling lanes, laser tag arena, Wizard adventure area, mini golf, walk-though shooting adventure, carnival skill games, and an arcade with redemption center. The venue will also feature a Polynesian themed restaurant, a Tiki bar, an upper deck cocktail veranda, and a speakeasy themed private VIP suite.
“It has been a pleasure working with Guy Kitchell,” said Kenny Favre, Managing Partner and founding principal of EFA Partners. “Guy is already very well-known in the industry from his Thrill Builders attraction business. The new Thrill Factory venue is a logical extension of his presence in the industry that will be a wonderful interactive entertainment venue for the Madison community and will also be a showcase for Guy’s Thrill Builders designed and manufactured attractions."
EFA’s principals have over 70 years of collective experience in providing financing solutions for leisure, entertainment, and media companies. They have deep relationships with banks, equipment lessors, construction lenders, specialty finance groups, REITs, and private equity groups. The team prides itself on handling its clients’ financing processes from start to finish. For Thrill Factory, EFA approached a targeted list of prospective financiers, completed comprehensive materials to highlight the attractiveness of the venue and the leisure sector, procured proposals from several lenders, and participated in all phases of negotiations with the lenders.
“It has been great working with Kenny Favre and the EFA team,” said Guy Kitchell. “As most people in the FEC sector understand, it is not easy arranging construction financing for leisure venues in the current environment, especially in a leased space without real estate as the part of the collateral package. The EFA process allowed us to garner interest from many lenders. We’re very excited to have closed the financing and we plan on the Madison site being the first of many venues.”
About EFA Partners
EFA Partners is a boutique financial advisory firm with offices in New York and Atlanta focused on entertainment, media, and technology companies. It provides investment banking services focused on arranging growth capital, mergers and acquisitions, and financial consulting. In entertainment, its targeted sectors include family entertainment centers, movie theaters, theme parks, water parks, concert venues, hotels, casinos, sports, and others. In media and technology, EFA focuses on companies in film/television post-production, film/television distribution, communications services, recorded music, music publishing, and others. Since its inception in 2009, EFA has been retained by over 200 clients, has arranged over $1.6 billion of capital, and has advised on over $3.6 billion of additional capital.