When Cliff Sharples and his wife, Lisa, first hatched the plan to start their next company, they were on a family ski trip at Crystal Mountain. They had already co-founded and sold Garden.com, and they wanted to get back to working together.

Now with their latest business venture, an acquisition fund called Fexy Media, the Mercer Island couple is hoping to create the next big digital media company, and they hope do so from home.

Initially billed as Teneology, Sharples says that with Fexy Media, he hopes to own and grow the best digital brands in various consumer categories like food, health, fitness and lifestyle.

Much of Fexy Media’s investment strategy centers around digital video, which Sharples believes is the format that the next generation of consumers rely on for information.

“Our goal is for the properties we own, we want to build them into the number one brands in their category,” Sharples told the Reporter.

“When we look at companies for our portfolio, we’re looking at the opportunity for us to add value by providing resources or capabilities they haven’t built in-house themselves or can’t afford to do as an individual company,” he said. “Here at the corporate office on Mercer Island, the team can provide additional resources and strategy capabilities that [the individual company] couldn’t do on their own.”

Prior to starting Fexy Media, the Sharples’ founded Garden.com in 1995, took it public in 1999 and sold it in 2001. Most recently, Sharples was COO of Cheezburger while his wife was an executive at Allrecipes.

But in 2013, shortly after the sale of Allrecipes to Meredith Corporation, the Sharples’ left their jobs to travel around the world with their five children, touring Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

While traveling, Sharples began forming Fexy Media, engaging in Skype conference calls from different parts of the globe.

Sharples said the fund has raised roughly $10 million and has between 35-40 employees, but couldn’t yet reveal what businesses Fexy Media has acquired.

“We have several more deals in the pipeline, and we’re waiting until the first series of investments is done and then we can talk about having a total portfolio,” he said.

The Sharples family has lived on Mercer Island for 10 years, and Cliff has kept active in education. He is a Mercer Island Schools Foundation board member, has served as Lakeridge PTA president and was also on the school bond committee.

Fexy Media is currently Mercer Island-based, and the Sharples hope to keep the company on the Island, but are still finalizing location details.

“[Mercer Island] is not the first place you think for a digital media startup, but it’s kind of a great undiscovered business place because it fits right in the middle of Seattle and the Eastside,” he said. “People working for our companies come from all points of the Puget Sound area, and Mercer Island works as a perfect location for business.

“We’re hoping we can make it work, and it’d be great for us because we live here.”