Online furniture retailer Dot & Bo has abruptly closed its doors today. The San Francisco-based company said in an announcement that it had been in “deep discussions to be acquired by a prominent public company” but, after those talks broke down, it had no option but to shut down.
Dot & Bo contacted customers via email to inform them of its closure, which is effective today, while its website now directs to the same notice. The three-year-old company said it grew business 16-fold over its lifetime, and served “millions” of customers during that period.
“We are humbled to have had such loyal customers and are extremely proud of the impact we made on the home furnishings market, but ultimately we were unable to find backers with the necessary vision to help us achieve our mission,” it added.
The company declined to comment further when we asked for more information.
Unlike many in the capital intensive e-commerce space, Dot & Co had not raised a huge amount of funding from investors, despite a founding team with impressive credentials — CEO Anthony Soohoo, for one, previously spent time with Apple, Yahoo and Trinity Ventures. Trinity Ventures and Oak Investment Partners are among its backers.
The startup began life targeting young consumers with a ‘story-centric’ approach to selling furniture and home items, but earlier this year it increased its focus on business customers with a new service that offered free advice and consultancy to companies looking to spruce up or redevelop their work space.
Despite successful exits like Jet.com to Walmart for $3 billion and Dollar Shave Club to Unilever for a reported $1 billion fee, there have been less successful e-commerce ventures shutting their doors of late. In one such example, One Kings Lane, an e-tailer once valued above $1 billion, was sold to Bed Bath & Beyond this year for an undisclosed price that Recode reported to be as low as $30 million.
