Haus
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
Direct-to-consumer low-alcohol aperitifs
Haus produced low-alcohol aperitifs and sold them directly to consumers through an online-first beverage brand.
02 / Haus FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Haus collapsed after its Series A fell through: the lead investor declined to move forward with the round during closing, leaving the three-year-old startup without the cash to continue operations. Founder Helena Price Hambrecht said there was 'no villain' — but the business, which had been built as a purely digital growth brand during the pandemic with weak natural word of mouth, ran out of operating cash before the funding could be secured. Haus entered an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC) process in August 2022, putting its assets into a trust for an expedited sale to pay creditors. The Naked Market acquired the brand in the second quarter of 2023 and relaunched it online.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Asset sale
Naked Market later bought IP/brand via ABC after Aug shutdown—distressed residual sale.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Haus was founded in California in 2019 by Helena Price Hambrecht as a low-ABV aperitif brand, raising a $4.5M seed round and later $17M on rolling SAFE notes; by 2022 it was seeing $10M in revenue with a national distribution deal.
- 02
In August 2022 the lead investor declined to close the Series A (reportedly Constellation Brands' ~$10M commitment), leaving Haus without cash to operate; it entered an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors process to sell its assets for the benefit of creditors.
- 03
The Naked Market acquired Haus in the second quarter of 2023 and relaunched the aperitifs online.