VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (July 14, 2015) — Leesa, an online luxury mattress company that is taking the mattress industry by storm with its extremely comfortable, direct-ship mattress, has been recognized as one the fastest growing companies in the world by being named a winner of Shopify’s prestigious Build a Business Competition.
“We are truly humbled by the recognition of our success, having launched just six short months ago,” said Leesa co-founder and chief executive officer David Wolfe. “The work our team has done has been nothing short of remarkable, and it is a great honor to receive such recognition. It’s even more exciting to be rewarded with mentoring from Sir Richard Branson and a host of all-star entrepreneurs at Necker Island, Branson’s private retreat.”
“We are so impressed by the company that Leesa has been able to build in such a short period of time,” said Harley Finkelstein, the Chief Platform Officer of Shopify. “The mattress industry is in an exciting place right now and it’s awesome that Leesa is using Shopify to disrupt this multi-billion dollar industry.”
Leesa was named one of the six winners, beating out tens of thousands of new businesses that competed in the competition held by Shopify, one of the world’s leading commerce platforms with more than 165,000 actives merchants worldwide. To be eligible for the Build a Business Competition, entrepreneurs had to start an entirely new company and sell their products using Shopify. The winners are the businesses that sold the most over a two-month period, between October 2014 and May 2015. Although Leesa did not formally launch until January, May sales reached almost $2 million. With July sales tracking close to 100% ahead of May, Leesa is on track to exceed over $30 million in sales in its first year.
“Leesa has been a runaway success and is the most exhilarating business I’ve been involved in, by far. It’s unbelievable to think that after just six months, we’re on track to achieve $30 million in sales in our first year and have already helped more than 11,000 people sleep better,” said Wolfe.
The brainchild of entrepreneur David Wolfe and 28-year industry veteran Jamie Diamonstein, the business is now focused on further U.S. growth and international expansion, having secured $9 million in Series A funding from TitleCard Capital. TitleCard Capital is a private equity firm whose celebrity influencers include Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine, Jimmy Kimmel, Kenny Smith, Eric Decker, Henrik Lundqvist and others. Leesa is also officially opening its online doors in the U.K. today.
Leesa’s success starts with a mattress designed to cost less than $1,000, while offering “a better place to sleep” than mattresses that cost $2,000 or more. The company has also done away with the awkward mattress-buying experience of having to try out a mattress in a traditional retail showroom. Instead, Leesa has created what they call a ‘universal’ feel – moving away from the idea of a soft, medium or firm mattress – that allows almost anyone to sleep better. A queen mattress costs $890 and all sizes come with a 100-night, risk-free in-home trial, backed by a full refund policy and free returns.
One of the unique things about Leesa is the company’s commitment to the community. Leesa’s successful launch and fast growth has helped jumpstart its social impact program, dubbed Leesa One-Ten, where the company donates one mattress for every ten sold to charity.
For more information, or to purchase a Leesa mattress with a 100-night, risk-free in- home trial, backed by a full refund policy and free shipping, visit http://www.leesa.com.
For more information on Shopify’s Build a Business Competition, visit www.shopify.com/build-a-business.
About Leesa
Based in Virginia Beach, Va. with offices in Manchester, U.K., Leesa is an online luxury mattress company that offers 100 percent American-made mattresses delivered directly to your door. All mattresses have a universal feel that everybody needs to sleep better, and customers get a 100-night risk-free trial with free shipping and no-hassle returns. Leesa also operates an industry-leading social impact program where it donates one mattress to a shelter for every 10 purchased. For more information, visit www.leesa.com.
About Shopify
Shopify is a leading cloud-based commerce platform designed for small and medium- sized businesses. Merchants can use the software to design, set up and manage their stores across multiple sales channels, including web, mobile, social media, brick-and- mortar locations, and pop-up shops. This provides a merchant a single view of their business. The Shopify platform was engineered for reliability and scale, using enterprise- level technology made available to businesses of all sizes. Shopify currently powers over 165,000 businesses in approximately 150 countries, including: Tesla Motors, Budweiser, Wikipedia, L.A. Lakers, GoldieBlox, and many more.
