Mattress Retailer Casper Files for IPO as Revenue, Loss Grow
Online mattress retailer Casper Sleep filed for a U.S. initial public offering
(Bloomberg) -- Online mattress retailer Casper Sleep Inc. filed for a U.S. initial public offering, reporting growing revenue and losses amid heightened competition from imitators.
The New York-based company in a filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listed the size of its planned offering as $100 million, a placeholder that will likely change. The share sale is being led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc.
Casper, founded in 2014, became one of the leading brands in the so-called “bed-in-a-box” industry thanks to its pioneering status in the niche and savvy marketing. Since then, a slew of competitors have emerged in the U.S. and abroad. From 2016 to September 2019, it spent $422.8 million on marketing, the filing shows.
The company’s marketing strategy includes use of influencers to tout its products on social media. It cites relying on them as a risk that “may materially and adversely affect our reputation or subject us to fines or other penalties.”
$1.1 Billion Valuation
Casper had $312 million in revenue for the nine months ended in September, a 20% increase over the same period the previous year, the filing shows. Its net loss widened to $67 million from $64 million during the same period in 2018.
The company reached a $1.1 billion valuation in a private financing round last year. Its backers include Target Corp. and Dani Reiss, the chief executive officer of Canada Goose Holdings Inc.
Casper held a small round of layoffs, firing about 30 employees as part of a reorganization in December, people with knowledge of the matter have said.
The company is planning to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CSPR.
--With assistance from Sarah Frier.
To contact the reporters on this story: Crystal Tse in New York at ctse44@bloomberg.net;Matt Townsend in New York at mtownsend9@bloomberg.net
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