It’s brutal out there for DTC companies – TechCrunch

News that Haus, a consumer beverage brand looking to bring down the ABV in booze, had failed to close a funding round and was being forced to sell took many — this publication included — by surprise. Perhaps we should have been less taken aback.

Tracking the value of recently public DTC companies is an exercise in zooming in as their valuations shrink. Shares of consumer shoe brand Allbirds, for example, a company beloved by many in the technology world, reached a 52-week high of $32.44 before falling to around $4.50 today. Shares of DTC consumer glasses brand Warby Parker similarly peaked at $60.30 per share in the last year and retreated to roughly $13.60 per share today.

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Those declines are not unique. Peloton has taken nearly historic levels of public-market punishment after its pandemic-fueled run pedaled itself out of steam as COVID-19 waned from the public consciousness and masks in public settings like restaurants and gyms morphed from ubiquitous to rare.