The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2005
🌱
2005
Founded in San Francisco
Beth Gerstein and Eric Grossberg set out to sell engagement rings online, built on ethically sourced diamonds and lab-grown stones.
Wikipedia
Sep 2021
📈
Sep 2021
The peak: a $1.03B Nasdaq debut$1.03B
The Mainsail-backed retailer IPOs in September 2021, just clearing the unicorn line.
Nasdaq
2022
💔
2022
Slips out of the club
Big-ticket jewelry spending cools and the stock starts sliding within a year of the debut.
Macrotrends
2022–25
2022–25
The engagement-ring economy cools
Slowing demand, margin pressure and intensifying competition grind the stock down about 88%, to a market cap near $130M.
Macrotrends
2022–25
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–25
Glassdoor reviews across the post-IPO slide described a company straining under breakneck showroom expansion — chronic understaffing, high turnover and constant reorganizations — with employees citing trimmed perks, a tightening focus on the bottom line and grueling sales targets as morale cooled with the stock.
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Brilliant Earth is a digital-first jewelry retailer built on ethically sourced diamonds and lab-grown stones, selling engagement rings online and through a fast-growing set of showrooms. Backed by Mainsail Partners, it went public on the Nasdaq in September 2021 at roughly a $1.03B market value, just clearing the unicorn line.
As spending on big-ticket jewelry cooled and competition intensified, growth stalled and the stock slid almost 88%, leaving it a small-cap worth around $130M by 2026.
Source: stockanalysis / Macrotrends / Nasdaq (digital-first ethical-jewelry retailer backed by growth investor Mainsail Partners; Sept 2021 Nasdaq IPO at a ~$1.03B market cap; slowing demand and margin pressure cut the stock ~88%; market cap ~$0.13B in 2026)
