The Blubber

All of CaaStle’s employees have been furloughed for two weeks, effective today.

Hunsicker originally launched the company in 2011 under the name Gwynnie Bee, offering a subscription box service focused on plus-sized women’s fashion. Over the next 14 years, she remained in near-constant fundraising mode, securing capital from high-net-worth individuals including Bill Ackman. The company’s board, at various times, included prominent figures such as venture capitalist Ram Shriram and Alphabet chairman John Hennessy.

In 2019, the company rebranded as CaaStle, expanding its business model to provide white-label subscription services to other retailers and fashion brands, including Ralph Lauren.

According to a March 29 letter to investors from CaaStle’s board of directors, obtained by Axios, Hunsicker had been presenting some investors with misstated financials, falsified audit opinions, and incorrect capitalization data that understated the number of outstanding shares.

Despite the board’s ongoing investigation, she was still actively fundraising as recently as a week ago. She has since resigned from her roles as CEO and director. The company has confirmed that law enforcement is investigating.

It remains unclear who is currently on the board, aside from longtime COO and now interim CEO George Goldenberg, and why neither the board nor senior leadership identified the alleged misconduct earlier.

A company spokesperson confirmed both the employee furloughs and the authenticity of the investor letter.

Hunsicker also recently co-founded another company, P180, an inventory monetization firm that has acquired a majority stake in retailer Vince and a minority stake in fashion label Altuzarra. While P180 appears to use CaaStle’s technology, it is a separate legal entity with a different CEO.

Axios reached out to Hunsicker via LinkedIn but has not received a response.

According to a pitch deck obtained by Axios, P180 was seeking to raise between $150 million and $200 million as of last month.