Casper Sleep Raises $100M For Unicorn Status

Online mattress retailer Casper Sleep has joined the unicorn club after raising $100 million in funding at a $1.1 billion valuation.

According to Bloomberg, investors in the funding round include Target, New Enterprise Associates and Norwest Venture Partners, as well as Dani Reiss, the CEO of Canada Goose Holdings and Gordon Segal, co-founder and former chairman of Crate & Barrel.

The funding will be used to boost its international expansion, as well as the growth of its physical retail stores.

“We are in the very early chapters of our growth story as demand for Casper products continues to expand across the globe,” Casper Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Philip Krim said in a statement. “Today’s financing accelerates Casper’s vision to become the world’s largest end-to-end sleep company. Our growth will continue to be catalyzed by state-of-the-art sleep products, best-in-class customer experiences, and world-class leadership.”

Casper has previously raised $240 million in equity funding from investors Leonardo DiCaprio and 50 Cent, as well as institutional investors, including Lerer Hippeau.

Founded in 2014, Casper’s revenue last year surpassed $400 million. The company isn’t profitable yet, with losses at $64 million last year, but the company is projecting that it will become profitable on an EBITDA basis this year with projected revenues of $556 million. An IPO is expected to be the company’s next step.

And last year the company revealed plans to open the doors of 200 brick-and-mortar stores after experimenting with pop-up shops. The company’s first brick-and-mortar location is in New York City and features six mini-bedrooms. In those spaces, customers are able to test out Casper’s products, such as pillows, sheets and duvets. The store will also host community events focused on sleep and wellness.

“Buying a mattress or sheets or pillows is one of the most intimate purchases you’ll make,” Krim said at the time. “You should be mentally relaxed and comfortable so you can find the right product.”

In addition to pop-up stores, the company has experimented with trucks containing four napping pods, called “Napmobiles,” which gave customers an opportunity to try out the company’s mattresses.