Drop (formerly Massdrop) is an American e-commerce company based in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California. In July 2023, Corsair purchased Drop, while retaining its original brand and staff.

History

Drop founders Steve El-Hage and Nelson Wu met in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, where El-Hage was studying economics at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. The two had grown up using online forums as a way of exploring their hobbies, but believed these forums had many shortcomings, including disorganized meetups and unreliable group buys. They thought that by combining their forum experiences with their interest in

bulk buying Bulk purchasing or mass buying is the purchase of much larger quantities than the usual, for a unit price that is lower than the usual. Wholesaling is selling goods in large quantities at a low unit price to retail merchants. The wholesaler will a ...

, they could create a site that would better support their enthusiast in communities. The pair moved to

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

, where they met Will Bright and started Massdrop in 2012. Drop changed its name from Massdrop in April 2019. On July 17, 2023, Corsair announced it had acquired Drop.

Business model

Initially, Drop sold products exclusively from existing manufacturers. Drop would organize and facilitate group buys for their community members. They allowed community members to influence the products chosen to be sold through forums and polls. Drop originally worked with various communities, but have since primarily sold products relating to the mechanical keyboard and audiophile communities. The company has since introduced their own exclusive products, collaborations, and

private-label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

products under the names Drop and Drop Studio.

Past Drop products

Past products include the Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX headphones, Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 58X headphones, Massdrop CTRL Mechanical Keyboard, Massdrop x Sennheiser PC37X gaming headset, Massdrop x Koss ESP/95X, among others.

Funding

In September 2014, Drop raised $6.5 million in a Series A round led by

Mayfield Fund Mayfield, also known as Mayfield Fund, is a US-based venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage to growth-stage investments in enterprise and consumer technology companies. Founded in 1969 and based in Menlo Park, California. History The ...

with additional investment from previous backers

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneur ...

, First Round Capital, and Cowboy Ventures. In August 2015, the company secured $40 million in Series B funding led by August Capital with additional investment from Mayfield Fund, First Round Capital, and Cowboy Ventures.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drop 2012 establishments in California American companies established in 2012 Companies based in Milpitas, California Online retailers of the United States 2023 mergers and acquisitions Corsair Gaming