Packable Holdings LLC, a Carlyle Group-backed e-commerce platform valued at more than $1 billion less than two years ago, is shutting down in bankruptcy after it failed to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Hauppauge, N.Y.-based company made the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., on Sunday, days after it said it was laying off 138 employees. Packable, which entered bankruptcy with 372 workers, had nearly 1,300 employees at its peak. Founded in 2010, the online third-party seller of health and beauty products and its main operating business, Pharmapacks LLC, buys inventory from major brands to fulfill orders on online sites that include Amazon.com Inc., Walmart Inc. and eBay Inc. At its peak, Packable processed more than 1.8 million orders each month, chief restructuring officer Brian Teets said in a sworn declaration. The Carlyle Group invested $250 million in the company on a valuation of more than $1 billion less than two years ago. Carlyle, Packable’s largest single equity holder owning 26% of the business, declined to comment. In September, the company said it planned to raise $434 million in cash through a SPAC deal. After announcing the proposed SPAC deal, Packable increased its staffing, launched a rebranding campaign and planned to open a new warehouse and fulfillment facility in California, a plan the company later scrapped. The intensive expansion took a toll on its bottom line. While Packable recorded a 15% increase in revenue of $427.6 million last year, its net losses worsened to $175.2 million from $113.9 million in that period.
