E-Commerce Warfare: The $600M Amazon-Killer Is Running Out of Cash
Not only is the so-called Amazon-killer Jet.com not killing, it's having a hard time mounting a serious attack. The e-commerce startup—which hit the scene with a big round of funding—is running out of cash.
The e-commerce startup, which offers deals at 15% lower than anywhere else on the web, raised $225M at a $600M valuation to wage war against Amazon, the most equity funding ever raised by a US commerce company in its first year.
But its aggressively go-big or go-home marketing tactics may not be paying off. Last month, Jet had $63M in cash on hand, with bold plans to spend $100M in ads for its first year. (It spent $10M just on Google last month.)
To turn things around, Jet is looking to raise $550M in a new round of funding, which would bring Jet's pre-money valuation to $1.55B, almost half of the $3B the company wanted earlier this year. [BI]
