Casper: IPO investors should have learnt from Eve
Private investors thought mattress company Casper was a unicorn – a start-up worth more than $1bn. Public investors don’t even think it is a third of one. After listing at $14.50 at the start of February, the shares have fallen sharply and at the time of writing the company has a market capitalisation of $312m. Those who invested in the private fundraising round which valued the company at $1.1bn have lost out, big time.
They could have learnt from investors in the UK who backed Eve Sleep, which listed in May 2017 at 100p per share, enjoyed a 9-month rise to 127p per share, before crashing down to just over 1p. It turns out mattress retailers shouldn’t be valued as innovative tech companies on either side of the Atlantic. Casper isn’t the only unicorn to have disappointed at IPO in the last few months. Ride-hailing apps Uber (US: UBER) and Lyft (US: LYFT) which generated huge hype among private investors are trailing their listing prices. WeWork never even made it onto the market – its IPO unravelled…