Inside Juicero’s Demise, From Prized Startup to Fire Sale

The shuttering of the much-ridiculed Silicon Valley startup was the culmination of unsustainable costs, slow sales and unflattering media reports.

A Juicero juicer on display at The Humane Society of the United States’ To the Rescue Los Angeles Gala at Paramount Studios on April 22, 2017 in Hollywood, California — Michael Kovac/Getty Images for The Humane Society of the United States

By Olivia Zaleski, Ellen Huet and Brad Stone

On Sept. 1, as many U.S. businesses closed early for the Labor Day holiday weekend, Juicero Inc. — a lavishly funded startup that once sold a $699 Wi-Fi-connected juice press — announced it was shutting down forever.

Juicero’s demise was not unexpected. Its collapse was the consequence of unsustainable costs, unflattering headlines and a bungled product launch. After attracting about $134 million in funding from such illustrious investors as Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Juicero was losing about $4 million a month. Four years after its founding, the startup was unable to find new backers willing to fund its ambition of making fresh juice accessible to all.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying. Over the summer, the board had discussed a generous injection of capital from existing investors. But it was too late, say about a half-dozen insiders including executives, investors and former employees. Weeks later, the board determined the company’s operations, which required…