Direct-to-consumer retailer Brandless shuts down, becoming the first company backed by SoftBank's Vision Fund to do so
Good morning and welcome back to Merger Week. Tom Maxwell / Input : Brandless is shutting down after two years and $300 million invested Miles Kruppa / Financial Times : SoftBank-backed Brandless cuts 90% of its staff Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News : SoftBank's Latest Setback: Brandless Shuts Down Hayley Peterson / Business Insider : The SoftBank-backed company that sold everything for $3 is abruptly shutting down, refusing orders … Connie Loizos / Yahoo Finance : SoftBank-backed Brandless shuts its doors for good Ann-Marie Alcántara / Adweek : After Months of Turbulence, Brandless Is Shutting Down Tweets: @protocol : Brandless is stopping all orders and laying off 70 people, nearly 90% of its staff, today. The direct-to-consumer retailer is the first SoftBank Vision Fund-backed startup to close down. https://www.protocol.com/... Biz Carson / @bizcarson : There's going to be a lot of talk about the impact SoftBank has had on startups and the venture ecosystem as a whole. But always remember that there are a lot of workers who believed in a company's vision who are now being laid off. And that sucks: https://www.protocol.com/... Troy Osinoff / @yo : Brandless is shutting down. Another tough loss for Softbank. This shutdown tallies up another L for Softbank in addition to Wag & WeWork 😢 https://techcrunch.com/... Cheryl Wischhover / @cherylanneny : Not a shocker (Spoiler: the pivot to CBD failed) https://www.protocol.com/... Justin Wu / @hackapreneur : Another implosion for Softbank. Taking massive Ls left and right. Brandless shuts down. Softbank pumped $240m into this one. https://techcrunch.com/... JP Castlin / @rouserjp : But we all know it won't be the last. As a side note, if you thought “not having a brand” did mean they didn't, you *really* need to pay closer attention to what brands are. https://twitter.com/... @vcstarterkit : Please cue the big shutdown VC Twitter playbook: * Industry observers who claim they saw this coming all along * Critics taking this moment to gloat that the entire VC model is flawed * A rare reminder to think of the employees * “Doom & Gloom” prophets re-emerge https://twitter.com/... Ben Zifkin / @ben_zifkin : *Brandless shuts down *Casper cuts IPO price and is now only about 1/3 of the valuation of their last private round. *Harry's acquisition abandoned after FTC intervention. Just the beginning of volatility on the commerce market before it matures and stabilizes. Expect more. https://twitter.com/... Sumanth / @sumastodon : I love these startups because they're bold enough to try something new, and give me cheap stuff in the process https://twitter.com/... Bill D'Alessandro / @billda : .@Brandless is shutting down - they were playing on insane hard mode with high CAC, low price points, thin margins, structurally limited distribution (no marketplaces or retail). Doomed from the start - even Softbank money can't save that formula. https://www.protocol.com/... Samuel Scott / @samueljscott : So, brands are actually important? https://twitter.com/... Max Chafkin / @chafkin : in retrospect: “we're going to sell commodity goods for super-low prices without any branding” probably should have been a red flag https://twitter.com/... Kyle Russell / @kylebrussell : “SoftBank had set up its investment in Brandless so that it would only deliver all of the cash when certain markers were hit. It never invested the full $240 million.” https://www.protocol.com/... Tom Goodwin / @tomfgoodwin : Another predictable failure in the “brilliantly executed” x “ not very good idea” sector. https://www.protocol.com/... Sheel Mohnot / @pitdesi : Brandless shutting down; selling everything for $3 never made sense! Cac was out of control and then they got rid of favorite products, increasing churn; first vision fund company to fold. They would have been better off if they had raised less. https://www.protocol.com/... Myles Udland / @mylesudland : Company that sold everything for $3 shutting down. https://www.protocol.com/...