Away

JRSK, Inc., doing business as Away, is an American online and storefront retailer. It is best known as a luggage designer, manufacturer and retailer, and led by founders, Stephanie Korey and Jennifer Rubio, in New York City. Rubio and Korey started Away in 2015; they have raised $31 million in financing and sold more than 300,000 suitcases. It is one of the highest funded female-backed startups.
The company primarily sells products online, but also has brick and mortar locations in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin. Its newest storefront opened up in London in August 2018, and is the company's UK flagship location.
Away is a direct-to-consumer retailer, which allows the company 
to sell directly to consumers without third-party wholesalers or 
distributors. Its products are available throughout the U.S. and in 
Europe. The company has also released a book The Places We Return To and publishes the digital magazine Here and the podcast Airplane Mode.
== History ==
Stephanie Korey and Jennifer Rubio met in 2011 as former colleagues on the early executive team at Warby Parker. They founded Away in 2015. By November, the company had raised $2.5 million in seed funding from investors Accel Partners and Forerunner Ventures.
 The company created a book of travel stories to sell with a gift card 
for the company's first product, "The Carry-On", which became available 
to ship in February 2016. In September 2016, the company raised an additional $8.5 million in Series A funding for expansion.
In its first fiscal year (2016), the company sold US$12 million in luggage. The next year, Away had grown to 66 employees and projected more than $50 million in sales. The company raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Global Founders Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Comcast Ventures, and Accel Partners in May 2017.
 As of May 2018, Away had more than 150 employees and announced plans to
 expand jobs across the company, including a relocation of its 
headquarters in New York City.
 In May 2019, the company secured $100 million of investment and reach 
total valuation of $1.4 billion. The funding round was led by Wellington
 Management, as well as Baillie Gifford, Lone Pine Capital and Global 
Founders Capital. The money will go for building brick-and-mortar stores
 and expanding travel gear.
Away expanded into editorial content with the launch of a podcast called Airplane Mode in May 2017, and in July 2017, a print and digital travel magazine, Here, which includes city guides, travel essays, and photo journals.
The company was named a "Breakthrough Brand with Ingenious Marketing" by Adweek. Fast Company
 recognized Away as one of the "2018 Top 10 Most Innovative Companies", 
and the company was a recipient of Surface Travel Awards.
On December 5, 2019, a report from The Verge described a toxic workplace
 and "culture of intimidation and constant surveillance" at Away in 
which employee communications channels were restricted while executives 
used Slack as an internal megaphone to publicly humiliate employees. Employees reported expectations to work long hours, on holidays, at night and late into the evening, and without paid time off.
 In an apology, CEO Korey said that she was "appalled" to read her own 
messages and listed steps taken to improve the company's work culture in
 the last year.
 Korey initially resigned as CEO on December 9, and the company 
announced that she was to be succeeded by Stuart Haselden, former COO of Lululemon.
Korey renounced her resignation on January 13, 2020, and stated 
that she and Haselden will be co-CEOs of Away. In an interview with The New York Times, Korey said that The Verge's reporting was "inaccurate" and that it was "not right" for her to resign. The Verge
 replied, "Steph Korey responding to our reporting by saying her 
behavior and comments were 'wrong, plain and simple' and then choosing 
to step down as C.E.O. speaks for itself.
Category:Luggage stores
Category:Retailers
Category:Companies
Category:Franchises
Category:Brands