about a year ago online retailer packable was preparing to go public through a special purpose acquisition company with the spac market having evaporated and the economy now sputtering packable is laying off staff and preparing to liquidate according to internal documents reviewed by cnbc packable is the parent company of pharmapacks an online seller of health personal care and beauty products pharmapacks was founded in 2010 as a single brickandmortar pharmacy in the bronx new york before it turned to the internet and established a big home on amazon last september pharmapacks was the no 1 amazon seller in the us though it now ranks fifth among the sites top sellers nationwide according to research firm marketplace pulse packable said in a notice to employees monday that it was laying off 138 people or roughly 20 of its staff with the remaining 372 employees expected to be terminated as individual winddown responsibilities are completed the memo was signed by leanna bautista the companys chief people officer packable failed to secure new financing that would have enabled it to stay in business the notice said we diligently pursued internal and external financing options but were ultimately unsuccessful the company said given the company has no viable financing alternatives we are now forced to cease operations liquidate any remaining collateral and shut down the business including the facility you report to packable previously secured funding from highprofile investors including carlyle group fidelity and lugard road capital in addition to amazon the company sells products on marketplaces run by walmart ebay and target as of 2020 amazon was by far packables largest channel accounting for 80 of sales according to an investor presentation amazons thirdparty marketplace has become the centerpiece of its dominant ecommerce business as it now accounts for more than half of online retail sales because of amazons global reach and massive customer base many retailers count on the company for the majority and in some cases the entirety of their business packables last year has been fraught with turbulence after announcing in september plans to merge with a spac highland transcend partners i corp in a deal that valued the company at 155 billion the market started to turn and investors lost their appetite for spacs in march packable called off the deal to take the company public citing unfavorable market conditions just days before highland transcends shareholders were scheduled to meet packable ceo andrew vagenas quietly resigned in april and was succeeded by daniel myers according to the companys website myers a former supply chain executive at mondelez was named to packables board last year vagenas still sits on the companys board according to his linkedin not a single spac was issued in july as what remained of the market dried up completely according to cnbc calculations of spac research data a boom in 2020 and 2021 created more than 600 spacs hunting for targets for packable the disappearance of capital represented a dramatic turn for a business that boomed after the onset of the covid19 pandemic with consumers stuck at home online spending surged and investors poured into the space revenue slowed last year from doubledigit growth in 2020 as the company struggled to navigate supplychain constraints which resulted in significant inventory out of stock purchase order delays and delays in onboarding new customers according to an investor presentation however the business was still able to grow some through the early part of 2022 in february packable said its average daily revenue in january increased to an estimated 16 million from 15 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 representatives from packable didnt immediately respond to a request for comment watch whats behind the hype in the amazon aggregator space