After a restful private sleep... direct-to-consumer mattress unicorn Casper wants to go public. While you munch açai (food health) after a yoga/spin-hybrid class (workout wellness), Casper thinks you forgot the 3rd pillar of the health/wellness trend: sleep. The self-proclaimed "pioneer of the sleep economy" cut out the middleman and basically put Mattress Firm out of business - so we jumped into its IPO paperwork.
These numbers woke us up... Spoiler: Just like Lyft/Uber/Slack/Pinterest, Casper isn't profitable — despite $358M in 2018 revenues, its loss jumped to $92M.
- $423M: How much it splurged on marketing since 2016 to stick its dreamy ads across basically every subway car ever.
- $80M: The amount lost on returns/refunds/discounts in 2019. That cost is 23% of its revenues.
- 16: The number of new sleep economy products it's working on: sleep pills, vitamins, sprays, medical machines, counseling, and meditation.
- 100%: In cities with one of the 60 Casper retail stores (great for midday napping), its online sales grow 100% faster than cities without them.
- 3: The number of direct-to-consumer mattress rivals Casper mentioned (Purple, Leesa, Brooklinen) — there are nearly 200 other copycat competitors it didn't mention.
- 201, 136, and 9: The number of times Casper mentioned "brand," "mattress," and "profitable" (#priorities)
Casper wants to be the "Nike of Sleep"... but it's really the "Peloton of Slumber." Many moons from now, Casper may turn into a profitable, global brand with an array of products. Right now, it's closer to the spin-bike startup that recently IPO'd:
- Both are dependent on 1 big, expensive product (mattresses/bikes)
- Both promise new things are coming (sleeping pills/rowing machines)
- Both may never become profitable (losses this year are bigger than last year)
- Both rest their future on connecting with you via technology (apps, apps, apps)
- Both depend on Millennials' still loving health/wellness