Juicero raised $120 million to build a $700 WiFi-connected juicer that squeezed proprietary fruit packs. Then Bloomberg reporters discovered you could squeeze the packs with your bare hands and get the same juice. The company shut down four months later. It remains the single greatest symbol of Silicon Valley's inability to distinguish between innovation and overthinking a problem that didn't exist.
Founded
2013
HQ
San Francisco, USA
Total Raised
$120 million
Founder
Doug Evans
Status
Shut down (2017)
Website
www.juicero.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Doug Evans was obsessed with cold-pressed juice. He had previously founded Organic Avenue, a chain of organic juice bars in New York.
His next idea was to bring cold-pressed juice into the home. The problem, as he saw it, was that home juicers were messy, loud, and required buying and prepping fresh produce.
His solution: a sleek countertop machine that squeezed pre-packaged fruit and vegetable packs. No mess, no prep, no hassle.
He pitched it as "the Keurig of juice." Investors loved it.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Classic razor-and-blade model. Sell the machine at a premium ($699 at launch, later dropped to $399), then sell the proprietary juice packs as a recurring subscription at $5-8 per pack.
The packs had QR codes that the machine scanned to verify freshness — if a pack was past its expiration date, the machine refused to press it. This DRM-for-juice feature was presented as a food safety innovation.
It was actually vendor lock-in.
THE PRODUCTS
The Juicero Press was a countertop machine roughly the size of a large coffee maker. It used four tons of force — which is insane for juice — to press proprietary packs of pre-chopped fruits and vegetables.
The machine connected to WiFi to scan QR codes on packs and check expiration dates. If a pack was expired, the machine literally refused to squeeze it.
The packs themselves contained pre-washed, pre-chopped organic produce in a sealed bag. They cost $5-8 each and produced about 8 ounces of juice.
HOW THEY GREW
Celebrity and VC credibility. Doug Evans was a charismatic pitchman who compared himself to Steve Jobs.
He sold the vision of a cold-pressed juice revolution in every kitchen. The investor roster read like a who's who of Silicon Valley: Google Ventures led a round.
Kleiner Perkins invested. Campbell Soup Company put in money.
The Honest Company (Jessica Alba) was involved. Having that lineup made the product feel inevitable.
It also meant nobody asked the obvious question: do you actually need a $700 machine for this?
THE HARD PART
The product itself. Bloomberg published a devastating article in April 2017 showing that the proprietary juice packs could be squeezed by hand, producing virtually identical juice in about the same time as the machine.
The video of two reporters hand-squeezing a pack went viral. Overnight, Juicero became a global punchline.
The company tried to respond by emphasizing the machine's "consistent press" and "connected platform" features, but the damage was total and irreversible.
WHO BACKED THEM
Juicero raised $120 million from some of the most respected names in venture capital. Google Ventures (now GV) led the Series B.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested. Campbell Soup Company put in strategic funding.
Other investors included Thrive Capital (Josh Kushner), ARTIS Ventures, and Wealth Management Capital Holdings. The Series C round valued the company at reportedly $270 million.
Every single one of these sophisticated investors apparently never tried squeezing the pack by hand.
POST-MORTEM
Why It Failed
Juicero died from a single Bloomberg article. On April 19, 2017, Bloomberg reporters Ellen Huet and Olivia Zaleski published a piece demonstrating that Juicero's proprietary juice packs could be squeezed by hand just as effectively as the $400 machine.
They filmed themselves doing it. The video went viral.
The company was already struggling before the article. The original $699 price point had been cut to $399.
Subscription numbers were below projections. The machine was over-engineered — it contained a custom processor, a WiFi chip, and enough pressing force to lift two Teslas, all to squeeze a bag of pre-chopped fruit.
Manufacturing costs were enormous.
After the Bloomberg piece, Juicero offered full refunds to any customer who wanted one. CEO Jeff Dunn (who had replaced Doug Evans in 2016) tried damage control, writing a Medium post arguing that the machine was about more than just squeezing — it was about freshness tracking and food safety.
Nobody bought it. In September 2017, five months after the Bloomberg article, Juicero shut down and sold its remaining inventory.
Total lifespan from launch to death: about 16 months.
Money Burned
$120 million
The Lesson
If your $400 machine can be replaced by human hands, you don't have a product. You have a prop.
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