What Quince’s $10 Billion-Valuation Round Says About Consumer Investing

Is investing in consumer startups back? Well, it’s back from the dead.

When we broke the news of fashion e-tailer Quince’s $10 billion valuation last week, I thought maybe I was back in 2021. 

It wasn’t long ago that direct-to-consumer brands like Warby Parker and Daily Harvest and more were raking in investment dollars. But following some startups’ disappointing public debuts and low-priced acquisitions, venture funding for consumer startups almost came to a halt in 2022 as venture capitalists moved on to shinier objects like AI.