Casper Sleep

Casper Sleep (also known as Casper) is a public e-commerce company that sells sleep products online and in retail locations. Headquartered in New York City, the company has showrooms in New York City, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington state, Oregon, Connecticut, Arizona, Texas, Colorado and California and mattresses are manufactured in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Vietnam.[1][2][3]

Casper Sleep Inc.
Public
Traded asNYSE: CSPR
Russell 2000 Index component
IndustryMattresses
FoundedApril 22, 2014 (2014-04-22)
FoundersPhilip Krim
Neil Parikh
T. Luke Sherwin
Jeff Chapin
Gabe Flateman
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, U.S.
Area served
Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
ProductsMattresses, pillows, sheets, dog mattresses
Revenue$400 million(2018)
Websitecasper.com

History

Casper was launched in April 2014[4] by Philip Krim (previously of The Merrick Group, angelbeds.com, tranquilitymattress.com and SleepBetterStore.com),[5] Neil Parikh, T. Luke Sherwin, Jeff Chapin (previously of IDEO), and Gabriel Flateman.[6][7][8]

In January 2014, the company raised $1.85 million[9] in its first round of funding. The round was led by Lerer Ventures and Norwest Ventures and also included funding from Crosslink Partners, Vaizra Investments, and Correlation Ventures.[10]

On April 22, 2014, Casper officially launched, selling $1 million worth of products in the first 28 days.[11] In August 2014, an additional $13.1 million was received in Series A funding, including investments from New Enterprise Associates,[12] Ron Conway’s SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher's firm, A-Grade Investments, fashion designer Steven Alan, Queensbridge Venture Partners, and the investment group of musical artist Nas.[13][14][15]

In November 2014, Casper expanded its delivery from the contiguous United States to include Canada.[2]

Led by Institutional Venture Partners, the company raised $55 million Series B venture funding in June 2015.[16] The Series B funding included participation from celebrity investors: Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Scooter Braun, Adam Levine, and Pritzker Group Venture Capital.[17][18]

Led by Target Corporation, the company raised $170 million in Series C funding in June 2017.[19] The Series C funding included participation from Tresalia, Institutional Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Irving Investors.[20][21] In September 2017, Casper collaborated with American Airlines to provide a full suite of sleep products.[22][23]

In April 2018, Casper Sleep partnered with American Airlines to design pillows, blankets and other products for the airline's passengers.[24] Casper also announced later in April that they would be opening up a Canadian office in Toronto, along with a manufacturing facility in the country.[25]

In early 2019 Casper Sleep received a $100 million Series D funding from its existing investors Target, NEA, IVP, and Norwest Venture Partners, as well as new sponsors Dani Reiss of the Canada Goose Holdings and Gordon Segal of Crate & Barrel.[18][26] Dani Reiss also entered the startup's new independent board directors along with Karen Katz (board member of Under Armour and former CEO of Neiman Marcus Group).[26] With the new round of funding, the company was valued at $1.1 billion, according to Bloomberg and Casper Sleep.[18]

On January 10, 2020, Casper Sleep Inc filed an S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declaring their intention to IPO under the ticker CSPR.[27]

On February 6, 2020 it went public at $12 per share, translating to a market value of $476 million, listing on NYSE under the ticker CSPR.[28]

On March 31, 2020, its stock dropped to $4.12 per share, translating to a market value of $163 million, down from its $1.1 billion valuation in March, 2019.[29]

In April 2020, Casper announced the winding down of its European operations and laid off 21% of its staff (78 people) after a poor IPO performance and declining revenues due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. [30][31] Additionally, the company announced that Greg Macfarlane, Casper’s CFO and COO, will depart the company in May.[32]

Products

Casper mattresses consist of four types of foam, memory foam, and polyurethane support foam.[33] Casper mattresses were previously only sold online but in 2019, they began launching retail locations after piloting successful pop-up shops in large cities like New York and Los Angeles. Each mattress is sold with a 100-day return policy. Returned mattresses have been donated.[34][35]

In November 2015, the company expanded their product offering to include pillows and mattress/bed sheets.[36]

In August 2016, Casper introduced their fourth product, a dog mattress.[37]

The company launched its second mattress model, The Wave, in August 2017. Casper used a silicone polymer for The Wave that provides improved ergonomic support.[38][39] A third budget-focused mattress was introduced in October 2017, The Essential.[40] Compared to the original mattress, the essential only has three layers of foam, is thinner, and the cover is non-removable.[41]

Casper published Van Winkle's, a news website focusing on sleep until November 2018.[42] After the shutdown of Van Winkle's, Casper announced a quarterly lifestyle magazine, Woolly.[43] In April 2018, Casper introduced an adjustable bed frame.[44] In June 2018, the company has added to its (one-pillow) pillow line with a new product: the Nap Pillow.[45] In August 2018, Casper refreshed their bedding line with new sheets, along with releasing a nightstand table and bed frame.[46]

In early 2019, Casper launched the Casper Glow lamp, an $89 wireless bedside reading light. It responds to gestures, such as a gentle shake to activate flashlight mode. Early reviewers praised the quality but decried the high price ($89 per light and charger set) as excessive.[47]

Retail presence

Prior to partnering with retailers, Casper operated trailers, as part of their "nap tour".[48] Each trailer contained four Casper mattresses, which were parked in major cities in the United States and Canada, allowing people to try the mattress.[49]

In June 2016, Casper began selling their mattresses at West Elm stores in the United States and Canada.[50] However, the partnership ended in October 2017, with Leesa replacing Casper.[51]

In May 2017, Casper began selling their pillows and bedding at Target stores.[52] Casper mattresses are also available on Target's website. Some Target-exclusive products also resulted from the partnership, such as a lounger.[53] In September 2017, 15 pop-up stores were opened across North America, following the Casper Wave launch.[54]

In January 2018, Casper opened temporary nap pods inside of seven Indigo Books and Music locations in Canada.[55] The mattresses are not sold in-store; however, some Indigo locations stock Casper pillows.[56] In February 2018, Casper's first permanent store opened in New York City.[57][18][58] In April 2018, Casper announced that they would be opening stores in four Canadian provinces over twelve months, beginning with two Toronto locations in spring 2018.[59] In June, they announced a partnership with the Hudson's Bay Company to begin selling Casper products at 16 Hudson's Bay stores, 26 Home Outfitters stores and thebay.com in Canada.[60]

In July 2018, Casper announced the launch of the Dreamery, a “physical sleep experience” that will let city dwellers book 45 minutes of downtime in one of its nine private rooms. The concept store, located just behind its Manhattan flagship in Greenwich Village, provides pajamas, essential sleep oils and meditations by the mindfulness app Headspace for $25.[61] On July 13 2018, Casper announced they are now available to try and purchase at Nordstrom.[62]

Controversies

In April 2016, Casper sued three mattress review websites which had written negative reviews of Casper products.[63] According to the lawsuits, the websites steered potential customers of Casper products to competing mattress companies, which Casper claimed is a deceptive advertising practice. The lawsuit against one of the review websites, Sleepopolis, was resolved after Casper financed its acquisition.[64]

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See also
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