MOUNT VERNON, Wash. - Etera Inc., a plant wholesaler and operator of e-commerce storefronts for independent garden retailers, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a loss of funding from its venture capital investors. The bankruptcy filing protects the company from its creditors - the top 20 of which, including transportation companies and professional service providers, are owed more than $5 million, according to court documents.
The company cut more than half of its staff July 20, said a report in the Puget Sound Business Journal, Seattle, Wash., bringing the number of employees down to less than 40 after employing more than 260 employees last year.
Paul Abramowitz, acting CEO after former company CEO Carl Loeb was relieved of his duties, said Etera missed its annual sales forecast by more than $13 million and is in need of strategic investors or partners to take over its online and software endeavors. He said the company is moving away from software development and focusing on its mainstay of producing and selling of horticultural products.
The company had been doubling sales since 1999, said the Puget Sound Business Journal, and projected sales for 2001 were estimated at $20 million. Sales in 2000 were $9 million, and sales in 1999 were $5 million.
Etera’s two business segments include operations as a plant wholesaler that sells Etera-branded plants to independent nursery retailers and operations as a host to more than 1,600 e-commerce storefronts for independent garden centers. The company was founded 25 years ago by Loeb as Summersun Nursery & Greenhouse Co. before changing to Etera in 1997.
Etera’s online retailers sold the company’s plant materials, which are propagated in greenhouses and then transplanted into 3-inch bottomless pots that are planted in growing fields. The bottomless pots allow the plants unlimited access to soil nutrients. After harvest, these pots contain the root ball in a compact shape. They are easier to ship because they are lighter and more compact than typical gallon-size potted plants.