Cairn Subscription Box, a monthly service based out of Bend, Ore. that sends food, gear, and other outdoor recreation supplies to its subscribers, has just closed on $1.7 million in funding. Previously, the company was funded entirely by its co-founder and CEO, Rob Little, who began the business in March of 2014 in the Bend Outdoor Worx, an incubator for local outdoor industry startups.
The investors behind this new round include Brian Spaly, the founder of two clothing companies, Bonobos and Trunk Club (where he also serves as CEO); Rick Dalzell, the former CIO and SVP of Amazon, who sits on the board of Twilio and Intuit; and Jim Collins, a private equity partner at Seaport Capital and board member of Hydro Flask, a high-tech water bottle company.
Cairn plans to use the funding to broaden its offerings to both its customers and to the industry brands with whom it partners, as well as to expand its team.
In addition to bringing in new cash, Cairn also brought in a new full-time executive: co-founder Jared Peterson, who will now serve as Cairn’s COO and CTO. Peterson left Apple where he had worked for a decade in different roles, most recently as the business operations manager for Apple Watch, to take the position at Cairn.
Cairn Subscription Box was founded to allow those passionate about outdoor recreation “discover new brands and products” from both new and established companies, according to their website. (This startup is not to be confused with the Cairn app for hikers.)
Customers pay $25 per month and receive a surprise selection of gear, apparel, food, energy, and skincare products from a rotating list of more than 100 brands in a box delivered to their doorsteps. Then, customers are given incentives to review their boxes, which helps Cairn’s partner companies collect data on their products to improve their offerings and to better situate themselves in the outdoor recreation market.
“Cairn is a cutting edge brand that is more than a subscription box service,” said investor Brian Spaly in a news release. “Cairn is changing the outdoor industry and creating a unique community built around innovation, inspiration, quality, data and a love for the outdoors.”
