Brandless is an American

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

company that manufactures and sells products under its own label led by

Cydni Tetro Cydni Tetro is an American CEO, speaker, and serial entrepreneur. Tetro obtained a Bachelor of Science in computer science and a Master of Business Administration from Brigham Young University. Career Tetro was the founder of digital experience ...

as CEO. Brandless was founded by

Ido Leffler Ido Leffler is an Israeli-born Australian entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. He is the co-founder of Yoobi, Yes To Inc., Cheeky, Brandless, and Beach House Group. Each of the companies Leffler has founded and co-founded incorporates a social ...

and

Tina Sharkey Tina Sharkey (born 1964) is an American entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. Noted for "discovering ways to bring consumers and businesses together," she co-founded Brandless and ''iVillage''; served as chair and global president of BabyCenter; le ...

, it launched in July 2017. On February 10, 2020, the company confirmed it would cease operations. The assets of Brandless were purchased in June 2020 by Clarke Capital Partners and Ikonifi. Brandless subsequently relaunched in the summer of 2020 with

appointed as CEO. The company raised $118 million in August 2021, one of the largest funding rounds ever to be led by a female CEO.

History

Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler met while living in

Mill Valley Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. Mill Valley is located on the western and ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Sharkey, the founder of iVillage and the former CEO of

BabyCenter BabyCenter is an online media company based in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles that provides information on conception, pregnancy, birth, and early childhood development for parents and expecting parents. BabyCenter operates 9 ...

, had a background in online communities, and Leffler, the founder of several companies, including Yes To, Inc. and Yoobi, had experience in consumer products. In mid-2016, Sharkey resigned from her position as CEO of Sherpa Foundry to become CEO of Brandless, with Leffler serving as its chairman. The company raised $16 million in funding led by Redpoint Ventures in November 2016, and at launch had received a total of $50 million in venture capital from New Enterprise Associates,

Google Ventures GV is a venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., founded by Bill Maris, that provides Seed investment, seed, Venture capital financing, venture, and Growth investing, growth stage funding to technology companies. Founded as Google Venture ...

, and others. In 2018, the company launched a pop-up store in Los Angeles in May. Brandless launched a second, larger pop-up store in New York in October 2018. In May 2019, Brandless raised $240 million as a part of its series C funding round. Soon after, Tina Sharkey stepped down as CEO after friction between her and lead investor SoftBank Vision Fund. In February 2020, Brandless announced that it would cease operations, citing fierce competition and business model inviability in the direct-to-consumer market. The business laid off 70 staff members (about 90% of the operation at the time) with the remaining employees managing open orders. The assets of Brandless were purchased in June 2020 by Onward Partners, LLC, a company formed by Clarke Capital Partners and Ikonifi. Brandless relaunched under the leadership of Clarke Capital Partners, a family office based in

Silicon Slopes Silicon Slopes is a reference to the area surrounding Lehi, Utah where dozens of tech start-ups are centralized. It has been generalized to include the entire startup and technology ecosystem of Utah. Served by the Salt Lake City International ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, and appointed Cydni Tetro as CEO. The company raised $118 million in debt and equity in August 2021, one of the largest funding rounds ever to be led by a female CEO.

Business model

Brandless was based in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and operated an additional facility in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. It marketed its foods as

GMO A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...

-free, its health and beauty items as cruelty-free, and paper products as adhering to sustainable forestry practices. Products' labels consist of only a white box with the product's name and two to five descriptors, such as

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

, or

gluten-free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclus ...

. Brandless is a brand of its own. The company operated a direct-to-consumer model. Initially, Brandless priced single items at $3, or multiple items for $3 total. That policy changed in January 2019 and higher-priced products were offered. In 2019, Brandless began to offer an optional subscription service to its customers. Under the new management, the business model moved to a mission-driven, omni-channel e-commerce platform making acquisitions of like-minded companies to plug into Brandless growth engine.

Awards and recognition

In February 2018, Brandless received the Best NewCo of the Year award from NewCo Honors for disrupting retail markets and donating 250,000 meals to Feeding America. Additionally, it was awarded "StartUp of the Year" by '' Ad Age'' in 2018 and was also awarded one of "The World's Most Innovative Companies in Retail" by '' Fast Company'' in 2019.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official Website
Companies based in San Francisco 2016 establishments in California 2020 disestablishments in California American companies established in 2016 Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Grocers GV companies Internet properties established in 2016 Internet properties disestablished in 2020 Online retailers of the United States Retail companies established in 2016 Retail companies disestablished in 2020 Privately held companies based in California Retail companies established in 2020

History

Business model

Awards and recognition

See also

References

External links