// startup autopsy

Loot Crate

800,000 subscribers for gamer boxes. Shipping delays destroyed trust. Chapter 11 in 2019.

unit economicsSlow Death

Years-long decline before final shutdown · Fatal mistake: Fulfillment operations could not scale with subscriber growth; advance payment float masked underlying delivery failures until trust collapsed

Founded	2012
Closed	2019
Country	USA
Sector	Ecommerce
Raised	~$136M USD
Founder	Chris Davis, Matthew Arevalo

72%

48%

Key Events Timeline

2012

FOUNDING

2012-01

FOUNDING

Loot Crate founded

2015-06

DOWN ROUND

Down round or bridge financing

2016

MILESTONE

2017

CRISIS

2018

CRISIS

2019

SHUTDOWN

2019-06

SHUTDOWN

Bankruptcy: Loot Crate ceases operations

// full analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

Loot Crate was founded in 2012 by Chris Davis and Matthew Arevalo in Los Angeles, pioneering the subscription mystery box category for gaming and pop culture fans. Monthly boxes filled with licensed merchandise...

from gaming, comic, and entertainment franchises grew to approximately 800,000 subscribers and revenues exceeding $100M annually, backed by approximately $136M from SG Private Equity and others. The

Verified lesson

“Subscription revenue is borrowed from the future. When fulfillment cannot keep pace with subscription sales, every new s...”

Unlock full lesson →

€110M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

Loot Crate raised €136M before fulfillment operations could not scale with subscriber growth; advance payment float masked underlying delivery failures until trust collapsed ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

See full analysis →See all plans

Analyst plan — €149/mo · or contribute your autopsy for free access →

// similar patterns