Latest / $100M Exits with Jason Kirby
EP 108: Luxury DTC Founder Chris Wichert: Raising $20M, Surviving DTC Collapse & Turnaround Exit
Chris Wichert raised roughly $20M to build a modern luxury sneaker brand, pitching Koio as the “Louis Vuitton for millennials.” After business school, he moved to New York and secured investors, including the Winklevoss twins, Founders Fund, and the founder of Aldo, scaling through press, retail experiments, and premium positioning.
Then COVID hit. Retail revenue disappeared. Demand for dress sneakers collapsed. By early 2023, Koio faced roughly -$3M EBITDA in a market where DTC multiples had compressed and fundraising slowed dramatically.
In this episode, Chris shares how they reset the…
The skinny
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