Brandless Inc. goes belly-up
The direct-to-consumer company Brandless Inc., selling a range of consumer products at about $3 apiece, is soon to close, according to Bloomberg. The company is backed by SoftBank—a major investor in financially troubled startups including WeWork, Uber, and Oyo. The bank initially said it would invest $240 million in the startup but ended up giving less than half of that. Even a pivot to CBD products last spring wasn’t enough to rescue the flagging company. Despite it all, the company’s almost-dead website tries not to be gloomy: “The good news is that although Brandless products will no longer be available on our website, they will still exist in homes and kitchens, everywhere thanks to you, our supporters and fans.”
