Mattress Maker Casper Files IPO After $92M Loss In 2018

Privately held Casper Sleep filed regulatory paperwork on Friday (Jan. 10) to take the company public on the New York Stock Exchange.

According to its Securities and Exchange Commission stock registration statement, as cited by CNBC, the online mattress retailer said it lost $73.4 million in 2017 and $92.1 million in 2018.

The company, which plans to list under the symbol “CSPR,” began selling mattresses on the web five years ago, and it now sells pillows, lamps, sheets and other bedroom accessories. It has wholesale partners and has opened its own brick-and mortar locations. The mattress market, however, has blossomed with new entrants, with the inclusion of Nectar, Tuft & Needle, Leesa, and Purple.

Walmart and Amazon have incubated their own brands of mattresses that they sell via the web. Casper refers to itself as a “pioneer of the sleep economy” and values the worldwide market at $432 billion. The company’s possible reach in Europe as well as North America focuses on a market valued at $67 billion of that, which the company reportedly said leaves much space for growth.

Casper said, as of the end of last year, it employed 234 people part time and 597 people full time. Its initial public offering (IPO) comes after many web-focused companies going public, with the inclusion of secondhand marketplace The RealReal, pet firm Chewy and apparel company Revolve.

In March, news surfaced that Casper Sleep had become a part of the unicorn club after taking in $100 million in funding at a valuation of $1.1 billion. The funding was to be used to help power its global growth in addition to the spread of its physical retail stores.

The funding round’s investors reportedly included New Enterprise Associates; Target; Norwest Venture Partners; Gordon Segal, co-founder and former chairman of Crate & Barrel; and Dani Reiss, CEO of Canada Goose Holdings.

At the time, it was also noted that the sleep company had previously raised $240 million in equity funding from investors 50 Cent and Leonardo DiCaprio in addition to institutional investors, with the inclusion of Lerer Hippeau.