The founders say BarkBox's customer base has been built primarily through social media, including 2.1 million Facebook likes and 1.2 million Instagram followers. Want to hear more on entrepreneurship? Tune into First 200 Days podcast.` With spending on pets nearly doubling between 20 to more than $60 billion a year (about two-thirds on dogs), they were able to raise $1.7 million in June 2012 and another $15 million over the next two years. In December 2011 they launched BarkBox online while keeping their day jobs. At the time Birchbox had just debuted its subscription cosmetics business, and the trio wondered if they could do something similar. Later, a mutual friend introduced them to Strife, an early Uber employee. got started in 2011 after Werdelin, an MTV vice president turned Index Ventures executive, met Meeker, who ran a Polaris Ventures incubator, on a networking cruise for entrepreneurs. "Our goal is to give them a 100-times return," Meeker says.īark & Co. For the investors to get that five-times return, sales would probably have to hit $500 million. founders won't comment on Bark & Co.'s valuation, but multiples on comparable public companies suggest it's between $150 million and $200 million. Venture capitalists generally want to see investments increase at least five times in value. They have raised $ 77 million in investment capital, including a $60 million round closed in May, from backers like August Capital and Resolute Ventures. Sales by all of Bark & Co.'s businesses hit $50 million last year, and the founders expect them to reach $100 million this year. "We like to strike fast," says Meeker, "and sometimes we take on too much." They've scored some hits, including BarkShop, an e-commerce site, and BarkPost, a blog about dogs, and they've rebranded themselves from BarkBox to Bark & Co. Meeker adds, "I'd like us to reach every dog in America." So far, however, creating brand extensions has been a struggle. Their grand vision? "Disney for dogs," says Strife. None of its subscription-box competitors are much beyond $1 million in revenue.īut to please investors, Meeker, Werdelin and Strife need to get a lot bigger. The service has accumulated more than 200,000 subscribers and about $40 million in sales. Two months earlier they got a plush toy-a takeout container with dumplings spilling from it-to mark the Chinese New Year. In April, for instance, dogs received baseball-shaped cookies and toys resembling ball caps and bats. For about $20 a month, subscribers get a container based on a theme. The top dog in this racket is BarkBox, which was launched in 2011 by Matt Meeker, 43, Henrik Werdelin, 41, and Carly Strife, 30. Given the willingness of Americans to spend on their furry friends, it should come as no surprise that a bunch of online operations are competing to offer canines a reliable stream of objects to eat, chew on or lose under the sofa. He kept me anchored in my day-to-day life, taught me responsibility, and gave me something to look forward to at the end of every day.There is a subscription box for almost anything you can imagine these days, and dog toys and treats are no exception. I had always been a dog lover, but I never owned one of my own. While studying mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, I adopted my first dog, Cooper, a puggle. This lifelong dog lover explains why she can’t imagine doing anything else, and why Bark & Co will never include cats. Five years in, Strife is Bark & Co’s COO, managing the growth of the company, which has shipped more than 25 million products to dog people across the country. After working as a financial analyst, and then as one of Uber’s earliest hires, Strife co-founded Bark & Co, which encompasses BarkBox, a monthly treats-and-toys subscription service for dogs BarkShop, an online pet marketplace and BarkPost, a newsletter that includes original comedy content and curated dog cuteness from around the web. When Carly Strife isn’t home snuggling her three canine fur babies, she’s working hard to make the lives of dogs and their owners a little bit better.
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