Participated · Series D · Mar 2019

Casper is an e-commerce company that designs and sells sleep products including mattresses, pillows, bedding and furniture developed in-house by an R&D team in San Francisco. The company operates Casper Labs, a platform using real-time user feedback, testing, and research to iterate on products, and employs more than 50 researchers, scientists and engineers. Casper has 5,000 square feet of workrooms with prototyping machines, testing equipment and an experimental bedroom. It maintains showrooms in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Casper plans to use the new funds to accelerate international expansion and increase its physical retail presence. At the time of the article the company had raised $340M to date and was valued at $1.1B following the latest round. Casper is a NYC-based sleep company that sells a flagship mattress and a range of sleep products including pillows, sheets, foundations, bed frames, duvets and a dog mattress. The company designs its entire product range through an in-house R&D team in San Francisco. Led by CEO and co‑founder Philip Krim, Casper launched in April 2014. The business has shown rapid revenue growth, earning $1M in its first 28 days, $100M in 2015, and more than $200M in annual revenue in 2016. Casper said it will use its new funding to drive product innovation and multi-channel expansion. The company’s product breadth and R&D focus position it to expand distribution and offerings across additional channels. Casper is a 14-month-old startup operating in the mattress business. The company sells mattresses and has begun adding services such as a same-day delivery feature launched in San Francisco. Casper plans to use new capital to expand its research and development staff, grow headcount beyond its current 75 employees, and begin laying groundwork for international expansion. Management reports strong sales traction, citing a $1 million first month and an estimated $100 million run-rate. The company has previously raised a $13.1 million Series A and in total has raised $69.95 million to date. CEO Phillip Krim described the round as another step toward building something big for the company. Casper builds mattresses by layering latex foam on top of memory foam to combine the advantages of both materials. Its design allows mattresses to be compressed and shipped in a small box with free shipping. Casper offers a 100-day free trial, manufactures its products in the United States, and emphasizes transparent pricing and simplified SKUs. The company reported $1 million in revenue in the first 28 days and says revenue has grown month-over-month since April. Casper plans to expand into other sleep-related products such as pillow tops, pillows, and alarm clocks. Current investor Ben Lerer was appointed to the board of directors. Casper is developing a vertically integrated approach to the mattress industry, using unique engineering processes to produce a single “super premium” mattress offered in different sizes. The company is finalizing its design after extensive testing and A/B experiments, and early versions have been sent to beta testers, including investor Ben Lerer. Casper plans to sell directly to consumers through its website and to simplify choice by offering one mattress model across sizes. Delivery is intended to be “radically different,” though the team has not disclosed details. Casper offers a lengthy 40-day return policy and is targeting a younger customer base that cares more about sleep quality. The team consists of five co-founders with relevant backgrounds, including CEO Philip Krim (who previously sold 40,000 beds through an e-commerce company) and product lead Jeff Chapin (formerly at IDEO).