Verndale Acquires Homestead Studio to Build Full-Funnel D2C Growth Platform

Verndale has acquired Homestead Studio, a D2C acquisition and retention agency and Klaviyo Master Elite Partner, folding the firm into its growing DTC and commerce practice as part of a broader push to own every stage of the direct-to-consumer growth stack.

"Modern D2C brands need a full-funnel growth engine," said Chris Pisapia, CEO of Verndale. "With Homestead, we add award-winning acquisition and retention expertise to our commerce and product capabilities, creating a connected platform that supports brands across the entire customer journey."

The Homestead deal is designed to sit alongside Verndale's January 8 acquisition of Vaan Group, a Shopify Platinum Design and Technology partner, to form what the Boston-based company describes as an integrated D2C growth platform spanning platform strategy, experience design, acquisition, activation, retention, and ongoing optimization. Where Vaan Group established Verndale's dedicated D2C offering and expanded its ability to build and optimize Shopify storefronts, Homestead brings the Klaviyo-native retention and acquisition layer that Vaan's commerce build capabilities had not covered.

The two deals are the most visible results of an acquisition pace that has compressed a significant capability expansion into roughly 13 months. Verndale secured private-equity backing in early 2025, announced a strategic partnership with Trinity Hunt Partners in February 2025, and added senior data and AI leadership in October 2025. November 2025 brought the acquisition of Fishtank, a Sitecore Platinum Partner that contributed 14 Sitecore MVPs and enhanced composable-experience and AI capabilities, positioning Verndale as a serious player in enterprise content and experience infrastructure.

January 2026 produced two deals in two weeks. On January 8, Verndale closed Vaan Group. On January 22, it acquired the Product Experience Division of Amp from Advantage Solutions, a team that now operates under the Verndale brand and brings capabilities in product strategy, rapid prototyping, engineering, and digital marketing functions including SEO, analytics, and experimentation. That division also extended Verndale's client footprint into technology and CPG verticals.

The Homestead acquisition, announced March 12, completes a stack that CMSWire characterized as a deliberate integration play, noting that for enterprise brands dismantling operational silos, competitive advantage in digital experience delivery is defined by integration rather than budget size. Verndale's argument to D2C brands is now that a single partner can handle the full commerce lifecycle without the coordination friction that typically builds between a platform agency, a creative shop, a performance marketing team, and a lifecycle marketing specialist running separate Klaviyo flows.

Homestead will operate as part of Verndale's DTC and commerce practice. No financial terms for the acquisition were disclosed.