Brilliant Earth Group Inc

Brilliant Earth is an innovative, digitally native omnichannel jewelry company, and a global leader in ethically sourced fine jewelry. We offer exclusive designs with superior craftsmanship and supply chain transparency, delivered to customers through a highly personalized omnichannel experience.

Our extensive collection of premium-quality diamond engagement and wedding rings, gemstone rings, and fine jewelry is conceptualized by our leading in-house design studio and then brought to life by expert jewelers. From our award-winning jewelry designs to our responsibly sourced materials, at Brilliant Earth we aspire to exceptional standards in everything we do.

Our mission is to create a more transparent, sustainable, compassionate, and inclusive jewelry industry, and we are proud to offer customers distinctive and thoughtfully designed products that they can truly feel good about wearing.

Our Company

We were founded in 2005 as an e-commerce company with an ambitious mission and a single showroom in San Francisco. We have rapidly scaled our business while remaining focused on our mission and elevating the omnichannel customer experience. Through our intuitive digital commerce platform and personalized individual appointments in our showrooms, we cater to the shopping preferences of tech-savvy next-generation consumers. We create an educational, joyful, and approachable experience that is unique in the jewelry industry. Today, Brilliant Earth has sold to consumers in over 50 countries.

Throughout our history, we have invested in technology to create a seamless customer experience, inform our data-driven decision-making, improve efficiencies, and advance our mission. Our technology enables dynamic product visualization, augmented reality try-on, blockchain-verified transparency, and rapid fulfillment of our flagship Design Your Own product, a custom design process. We leverage data capabilities to improve our marketing and operational efficiencies, personalize the customer experience, curate showroom inventory and merchandising, inform real estate decisions, and develop new product designs that reflect consumer preferences. We believe the Brilliant Earth digital experience drives higher satisfaction, engagement, and conversion both online and in-showroom.

Our made-to-order capabilities and virtual inventory model generate attractive inventory turns and negative working capital, which we define as our current assets less cash minus our current liabilities. We have achieved strong financial performance and rapid growth since our founding and believe we are in the early stages of realizing our potential in a significant market opportunity.

Below is a summary of our performance for the year ended December 31, 2023:

•Net sales of $446.4 million, compared to$439.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022;

•Net income of $4.7 million compared to $19.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2022; and

•Net income margin of 1.1% compared to 4.3% for the year ended December 31, 2022.

Our Opportunity

Global Jewelry Market

The global jewelry industry was estimated to beapproximately $300 billion in 2023, according to Statista. Despite its size, the jewelry industry is highly fragmented and includes players like mall jewelers, local independent stores, and department stores, among others. According to The Bain Report, approximately 65% of the diamond jewelry retail industry is composed of small retailers. Many small jewelry retailers are struggling to address evolving consumer preferences for personalization and e-commerce, and are further limited by reduced purchasing power and an inventory-heavy model. Many mall jewelers have also been slow to modernize an outdated retail experience, and face declining foot traffic. We believe the rapidly changing industry provides ample opportunity for Brilliant Earth to take share.

The bridal category—where we currently derive a large portion of our business—is among the most resilient in the jewelry industry. Engagement and wedding rings are an enduring tradition. Each year, there are approximately two million marriages in the U.S. alone, according to U.S. government statistics.

Engagement rings also have a high average order value (“AOV”) and are a highly considered purchase, often one of the largest purchases that a consumer will make. Given the emotional significance of this purchase, customers often form strong connections with the company from which they buy bridal jewelry and return for special occasions or self-gifting fine jewelry purchases.

Changing consumer preferences

Millennial and Gen Z consumers are the largest opportunity for the jewelry industry. These consumers represent the core consumer of bridal-related products and a significant portion of the fine jewelry market. They are drawn to purpose-driven brands, are digitally savvy, and expect to shop whenever and wherever they want.

As consumers continue to shift purchases online, we believe consumers seek authentic brands with a strong digital presence and an engaged community. They are highly active on social media, where many proposees look for engagement ring inspiration.

While Millennial and Gen Z consumers appreciate digitally native brands, many also want an in-person experience where they can see, touch, and feel products, especially for a high value purchase. They expect to be able to shop when and where they want with a seamless journey between brick-and-mortar and online. This requires strong digital capabilities and a true omnichannel experience. Millennial and Gen Z consumers also seek purpose-driven brands that are authentic, engaged with social and environmental issues, and help them express their individuality.

The Brilliant Earth Difference

Exceptional Omnichannel Customer Experience

We have reimagined the jewelry shopping experience with our seamless omnichannel model—allowing our customers to shop anywhere, anytime. Customers have joyful, personalized, and meaningful experiences on our website and in our reimagined showrooms. For those who shop online, we deliver a leading mobile-first digital platform with dynamic visualization that brings the product to life, and innovative technology that streamlines the customer journey. For those who want to shop in-store, we provide personalized and curated individual appointments. Customers meet with a dedicated jewelry specialist in a fun, relaxing, and educational environment that fosters lasting connections and propels strong engagement and conversion across channels.

Digitally Native, Tech-Driven and Customer-Obsessed

We are digitally native, and take a tech-driven, analytical approach to deliver our exceptional customer experience. The customer is at the forefront of our decision making, and we closely track their feedback and satisfaction across all our channels. We then use this data to create a personalized, premium experience however or wherever our customer chooses to shop.

Our custom e-commerce site guides customers through an intuitive, immersive shopping experience. Our advanced Virtual Try On and product visualization technology allow customers to envision our ring designs with diamonds and gemstones of many sizes, shapes, and colors. Dynamic product customization and an intelligent diamond recommendation engine simplify and personalize the shopping experience.

While many customers shop with us exclusively online, others also want an in-person experience. From early in our history, we have offered personalized individual appointments in our modern showrooms, with curated selections based on data collected from the customer. Our customers enjoy a fun, relaxing, and educational environment while learning about our mission and browsing gemstones and jewelry selected just for them.

Dedicated jewelry specialists are available at every step of their journey via chat, phone, email, virtual appointment, or in our showrooms, which we believe drives strong engagement and high customer satisfaction. These specialists strive to create lasting connections with customers.

Unique and Award-Winning Designs

We believe that customers should never have to compromise between beauty, quality, and conscience. Our commitment to our core values is matched by our passion for innovative design and exceptional craftsmanship.

Our award-winning in-house design studio keeps thoughtful design at the heart of everything we do and allows us to quickly adapt to consumer insights and marketplace trends. We utilize our customer dataset, strong relationships with our customers, and highly engaged social media following to continuously uncover consumer insights and trends. We track over 50 attributes associated with our products to inform our development and merchandising decisions. We create unique, exclusive styles that are expertly crafted to be beautiful from every angle and have been featured in leading publications, including Vogue, Forbes, and Women's Wear Daily. Approximately two-thirds of our ring collection is proprietary and available exclusively at Brilliant Earth.

Our engagement rings are highly personalized to reflect our customers’ individuality and unique preferences. Through our Design Your Own model, customers choose their ideal ring design, precious metal type, and ring size, and select their diamond or gemstone from our marketplace. The customer’s one-of-a-kind ring is crafted with extraordinary care to fit the exact specifications of their chosen diamond and made just for them, typically in six to twelve business days. We believe the exacting standards of our made-to-order process deliver a higher quality finished product as compared to other offerings that use pre-fabricated rings retrofitted to accommodate a new center gemstone and ring size.

Mission-Driven Ethos

Our mission is to create a more transparent, sustainable, compassionate, and inclusive jewelry industry. We founded the company to provide an ethical alternative to historical jewelry industry practices, which have raised environmental and social concerns and lacked transparency.

•Transparency: We go above and beyond current industry standards to offer Beyond Conflict Free TM Diamonds that have been selected for their ethical and environmentally responsible origins. As part of our commitment to transparent sourcing, we expect our suppliers to adhere to our strict Supplier Code of Conduct. We also integrate blockchain technology to showcase the journey of a select collection of blockchain-verified diamonds.

•Sustainable: Our jewelry is crafted from primarily recycled precious metals and arrives in our iconic ring boxes crafted with wood sourced from Forest Stewardship Council (“FSC”) certified forests. Our paper-based shipping boxes are FSC Recycled and made from 100% post-consumer or pre-consumer recycled content.

•Compassion: Compassion has been core to our Mission since day one. In 2021, we started the Brilliant Earth Foundation (a corporate advised fund with Silicon Valley Community Foundation) to further our impact. Since then, we have donated $2 million to the areas where diamonds, gemstones and precious metals are mined and the communities where our teams and customers live.

•Inclusion: We are deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we strive to embody our values through our product collections, customer experience, non-profit initiatives, and internal practices. We are proud that women comprise the majority of our employees, senior executive team, and our board of directors (the “Board”).

Our Strengths

The Brilliant Earth Brand

We are a mission-driven, premium brand founded on core values of transparency, sustainability, inclusivity and giving back. These values resonate strongly with Millennial and Gen Z customers. We thoughtfully develop our brand messaging and customer experience to appeal to all genders, which is important because couples are increasingly shopping together for engagement and wedding rings.

Alongside our mission, we believe our joyful, premium customer experience and unique, exclusive jewelry designs drive our strong brand affinity and loyalty. Since our founding, we have fostered deep connections with our highly engaged community, leading to an outsized social media presence. We believe our brand resonance, authentic content, and focus on staying ahead of social trends have contributed to our leading engagement rates.

Exceptional Customer Experience and Differentiated Omnichannel Model Drive Growth and Conversion

We have reimagined the jewelry shopping experience. Customers have joyful, personalized, and premium experiences on both our e-commerce site and in our reimagined showrooms. We deliver a leading digital platform, dynamic product customization, innovative technology, and a seamless omnichannel experience. For customers who wish to shop in-store, we provide personalized and curated individual appointments. Customers meet with a dedicated jewelry specialist in a fun, relaxing, and educational environment that fosters lasting connections and propels strong engagement and conversion across channels. We believe our showrooms accelerate our financial performance in the markets where they are located.

Unique and Exclusive Products

Our award-winning in-house design studio creates unique, exclusive styles that are expertly crafted to be beautiful from every angle. We leverage our data to curate collections and inform new product development strategy, so our offerings are current, fresh, and reflect consumer preferences. We have a vast collection of Beyond Conflict Free TM natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds that meet what we believe are rigorous standards for sourcing and quality. Our collection offers extensive coverage across quality characteristics and price points. Through our Design Your Own model, customers can customize their jewelry to reflect their individuality and personal preferences, creating one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces. In 2020, we also released one of the industry’s first gender-fluid collections.

Innovative, Data-Driven Technology

As a digitally native company, we use technology to deliver a superior customer experience, improve marketing and operational efficiencies, curate showroom inventory and merchandising, inform real estate decisions, and develop new product designs that reflect consumer preferences. Our proprietary technology includes dynamic visualization, augmented reality try-on, and automated rapid fulfillment of our flagship Design Your Own product. We utilize leading technology for key business functions, including product design and personalization, customer relationship management (“CRM”) and data analytics, inventory and supply chain management, order fulfillment, and more.

We apply cutting-edge technology to innovate and transform our supply chain. We were among the first retail jewelers to offer blockchain diamonds at scale, defining next-generation traceability standards in the jewelry industry, and offer thousands of blockchain-verified diamonds. This technology tracks a diamond from its origins at the mining operator, through cutting and polishing, to the customer. This provides even greater transparency into the responsible origins of these blockchain-verified diamonds.

Capital Efficient Operating Model

We have an asset-light operating model with attractive working capital dynamics, capital efficient showrooms, and a vast virtual inventory of premium natural and lab-grown diamonds. We are able to offer a broad selection of diamonds while keeping our balance sheet inventory low, which has driven our attractive inventory turns. Our limited owned-inventory and rapid cash cycle—where we are typically paid by our customers before we pay our suppliers—allow us to scale with limited capital outlays. Our showroom strategy generates highly favorable unit economics and avoids the inefficiencies of traditional jewelers that have too many physical stores, employees, and inventory. Our showrooms are appointment-driven with large catchment regions, so we are less reliant on high foot traffic locations—with their high rents—than traditional retailers. We curate showroom inventory for scheduled visits and need limited inventory for each location. When not in appointment, our tech-enabled team of jewelry specialists supports online customers, maximizing workforce utilization.

Founder-Led and Diverse Leadership Team Committed to Inclusion

We care deeply about diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are led by our chief executive officer (“CEO”) and co-founder Beth Gerstein. We consider our commitment to inclusion integral to our company, helping to inform our product offerings and customer experience.

Our Growth Strategies

There is a significant growth opportunity ahead. We are less than one percent penetrated in the jewelry category today. With our purpose-driven brand, digitally-driven omnichannel experience, award-winning products, and loyal customers, we believe we have significant opportunities to grow in both our existing and new markets.

Increase Brand Awareness

Increasing brand awareness and growing favorable brand equity have been and remain central to our growth. We believe we will continue to drive brand awareness through marketing, earned media, showroom expansion, and word-of-mouth referrals.

Expand Omnichannel Reach

We are expanding our showrooms nationwide, and expect to focus in the near term on major urban markets in the U.S. where we can maximize our growth potential. Expanding our number of showrooms has driven bookings uplift, accelerated growth, increased total order volume, and improved conversion in the showrooms’ metro regions.

Because our showrooms serve as destinations with some customers traveling long distances, we believe we can achieve broad national showroom coverage with far fewer locations than many traditional retailers. We expect this highly efficient showroom model to complement our digital strategy and will continue to drive growth and profitability.

Expand Purchase Occasions with Existing and New Customers

Fine jewelry, which includes earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings (other than engagement or wedding), represented 65% of the global jewelry market in 2022, according to The Bain Report. We believe we have significant opportunity to expand our relationship with our deeply loyal customer base beyond our current core engagement and wedding ring category into special occasions and self-purchases.

Our customer typically begins their Brilliant Earth journey with an engagement ring, so we are often the first significant jewelry purchase in our customer’s life, which we believe creates a lasting, emotional connection with the Brilliant Earth brand. While engagement ring purchases have historically been male-dominated, we thoughtfully built our brand messaging and customer experience to appeal to all genders. Our brand values of beauty, quality, and ethics resonate strongly with Brilliant Earth couples. For all of these reasons, we believe we are uniquely positioned in the industry to build on our brand loyalty to increase future purchases.

To capture these opportunities, we are investing in our fine jewelry assortment, and we will continue to enhance our customer lifetime marketing and data-segmentation capabilities, which we believe will more effectively extend customer relationships beyond engagement and wedding purchases, whether customers are buying a gift or a piece for themselves. With our strong brand resonance with Millennials and Gen Z consumers, we also believe our fine jewelry assortment and strategic customer acquisition will continue to drive fine jewelry orders from new customers.

Expand Internationally

We are in the early stages of expanding globally and believe there is significant opportunity for expansion. We have sold to customers from over 50 countries despite minimal existing language, logistics and currency support for those geographies. We believe that there is substantial potential to launch e-commerce in new overseas markets, and new showrooms in countries where we have already established a localized digital presence.

Product Assortment and Merchandising

We are passionate about beautiful and innovative product design. We are proud to offer our customers exclusive and thoughtfully curated collections of diamond engagement rings, wedding and anniversary rings, gemstone rings, and fine jewelry.

Our diamond engagement rings are made-to-order through our Design Your Own ring digital tool. Customers choose their ideal ring setting, precious metal type, and ring size, and select their favorite Beyond Conflict Free TM natural diamond or lab-grown diamond to create their one-of-a-kind ring.

Our collection of wedding and anniversary rings includes classic precious metal bands and bands accented with diamonds or gemstones. Many of these rings are designed to complement engagement rings and may be purchased with the engagement ring to provide a perfect match. These rings can also be styled alone for everyday wear or stacked to make a distinctive statement. Our diamond bands, including eternity rings, are popular anniversary gifts. Our gemstone rings feature vibrant and distinctive center gemstones, including sapphires, emeralds, moissanites, aquamarines, and other unique colored gemstones. Through our Design Your Own ring digital tool, customers can choose their ideal ring setting, precious metal type, and ring size, and select their favorite gemstone type, shape, color, and size. We also offer pre-set gemstone rings with our most popular gemstones for customers seeking a more curated choice.

Our collection of fine jewelry includes earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. We offer a broad and evolving assortment for gifting and self-purchase, from classic diamond stud earrings and tennis bracelets to unique pendants and distinctive gemstone styles. Our emphasis on personalization is reflected in our collection of engravable jewelry and Design Your Own earrings and necklaces set with natural or lab-grown diamonds.

Diamond Assortment

Customers can purchase loose diamonds or select from our vast inventory to create their own diamond ring, earrings, or necklace. Our inventory of independently graded diamonds spans a wide variety of shapes, sizes, premium qualities, and price points to cater to unique customer preferences. We offer both our Beyond Conflict Free TM natural diamonds with a listed origin and lab-grown diamonds to appeal to different customer preferences. Our Beyond Conflict Free TM natural diamonds have been selected based on their ethical and environmentally responsible origins, and we believe we are pioneers in offering diamonds with listed and transparent origins. Our lab-grown diamonds have the same physical, chemical, and optical characteristics as natural diamonds, exhibit the same sparkle and provide a mining-free alternative to naturally sourced diamonds. We were one of the first jewelers to offer lab-grown diamonds in 2012.

In-House Design Studio

Our award-winning in-house design team creates distinctive new jewelry designs and updates classic styles with fresh modern appeal. Over two-thirds of our ring collection is proprietary and available exclusively at Brilliant Earth. Our head of product development has been driving innovation at Brilliant Earth for over ten years. Our team uses state-of-the-art technology and the artistry of hand-drawn sketches to create hundreds of new designs per year. Each design is perfected using computer-aided design (“CAD”) technology to ensure beauty from all angles, high quality and manufacturability.

We also release exclusive jewelry collections throughout the year to highlight our passion for design. We believe our customers love our beautiful and unique styles—using our Virtual Try On feature, they frequently visualize rings with different diamond shapes and sizes on their own hand, then share their unique creations on social media.

Data-Driven Merchandising

We thoughtfully curate our collections to offer beautiful and differentiated designs with broad appeal. Our data-driven merchandising strategy leverages our robust dataset, strong relationships with our customers, and highly engaged social media community to continuously uncover new insights and trends. We also analyze over 50 attributes associated with our products to optimize our merchandising and inventory decisions.

Our in-house expertise drives an agile product development cycle, with new products developed in as little as four months. This agility enables us to rapidly launch, test, and learn based on performance feedback with minimal capital outlay. We regularly refresh our product assortment and maintain a curated online collection of fresh, trend-forward styles that resonate strongly with our customers. We merchandise our showrooms with styles that have sold well online, keeping our inventory costs low.

Partnership Collections

We partner with designers and organizations aligned with our mission and values to create exclusive product collections and support social causes we are passionate about. Collections allow us to broaden our assortment, reinforce our brand ethos, increase engagement with customers and feature like-minded designers.

Technology and Data

Since our founding, we have been a leader in incorporating technology and a data-driven approach in an industry that has historically been slow to embrace technology. Our core technologies serve as a foundation for our operating, sales, marketing, and merchandising functions. To deliver our exceptional customer experience and drive efficiencies across our company, we develop proprietary technology solutions and leverage leading third-party solutions.

We have a customized e-commerce architecture that enables us to efficiently develop and launch new functionality, customer experiences, and content. Our agile development sprints allow for rapid innovation and testing, and we continually release new functionality to optimize the user experience. For example, our proprietary Diamond Quiz curates recommendations unique to each customer based on an analysis of thousands of diamond demand categories.

We offer our customers a wide variety of powerful decision-making tools, including real diamond videos, and dynamic product visualization. Our advanced Virtual Try On tool allows customers to see any ring with any gemstone size, shape, and color on their own hand, then seamlessly shop, save or share their one-of-a-kind creation. Our Find My Matching Wedding Band tool offers customers an engaging way to explore and discover rings that match their engagement rings, enables the visualization of the ring set and provides us cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

Our technology systems, including our customized enterprise resource planning ("ERP"), CRM, supply chain, inventory management, order fulfillment and other systems, provide a unified data source and single view of our customer, and ensure quality standards and a more efficient turnaround for our flagship Design Your Own product. We also use a leading data visualization platform for real-time business intelligence across our teams to drive decision making and continuous improvement.

Direct to Consumer, Omnichannel Sales Model

We sell directly to consumers through our omnichannel sales platform, including e-commerce and showrooms. With a customer-centric and data-driven approach, we offer an elevated, personalized, and educational experience. Our omnichannel approach enhances the customer journey, provides a deeper connection with our jewelry specialists, and drives higher conversion rates.

Our mobile-first design approach enables an exceptional user experience across devices. On www.brilliantearth.com, customers can engage with our experienced jewelry specialists via chat, e-mail, and virtual appointments, and can experience our products using our Virtual Try On and product visualization technology.

We offer personalized individual appointments at our modern showrooms, where customers can experience Brilliant Earth in person, touch, and feel our products, and receive valuable diamond and gemstone education from our jewelry specialists. We make visiting our showrooms a seamless experience where customers can easily book their appointment and share their preferences online. We also use data from our customers’ digital interactions to personalize their appointments and curate the inventory they see in the showroom.

As of December 31, 2023, we had 37 showrooms across the United States. Our showrooms are in prime destinations in major metro areas, including ground, mall or upper floor locations in areas with premium retail adjacencies. We leverage data—including our own first-person customer data, revenue, e-commerce behavior, population and demographic data, and market growth—to inform our showroom real estate decisions.

Jewelry Specialists

We have a dedicated team of jewelry specialists available to our customers through every step of their journey via chat, phone, email, virtual appointment, and in our showrooms. Our team serves customers across more than 50 countries on inquiries ranging from diamond education, style recommendations, jewelry care, and payment options.

We maintain a flexible and high utilization staffing model in which specialists can seamlessly support online customers when not in customer appointments. We host thousands of individual consultations per month, where we provide diamond and jewelry guidance and education in a relaxing environment, and we provide personalized product recommendations and styling advice for our customers. Jewelry specialists leverage our unified view of the customer to ensure a personalized experience and create a fun, approachable, and educational environment that fosters lasting connections.

We have tens of thousands of customer interactions per month on average. We respond to most inbound inquiries within 24 hours. In addition, outbound initiatives such as proactive live chats and marketing emails to visit showrooms increase customer engagement and conversion.

Marketing

We employ a variety of dynamic brand marketing and performance marketing strategies to broaden our customer reach, build brand awareness, and maximize lifetime customer value. We use data-driven insights to produce targeted marketing content across a variety of mediums and optimize our marketing efficiency. Our customers are deeply involved with the Brilliant Earth brand, sharing thousands of images, videos, and stories of their proposals and weddings every year.

Brand Marketing

Our in-house social media team prioritizes a mix of aspirational yet approachable product and lifestyle imagery, authentic user-generated content, unique educational content, and purpose-driven storytelling that aligns with our audience’s values. Our strong connection with our audience allows us to stay ahead of trends and adapt to reflect their interests.

We also collaborate with key influencers who are deeply passionate about our mission and products. We partner with them to create authentic and unique product collections and content, which helps to expand our reach to new and highly relevant audiences. This amplifies the effectiveness of our strategy and contributes to our outsized number of followers and engagement with our community.

Our marketing efforts deliver growing brand awareness and frequent press mentions in leading publications, including Forbes, Vogue, and Women's Wear Daily.

Performance Marketing

We take a data-driven and digital-centric approach to performance marketing including search engine optimization, paid search and product listing advertisements, paid and earned social, retargeting, email, display, direct mail, and more. We continuously track performance and make adjustments across channels, campaigns, and creative assets to optimize performance. Our performance marketing drives attractive customer acquisition and retention metrics.

Sourcing and Supply Chain

Responsible sourcing is an important aspect of our mission and values. We work with a complex, global network of trusted suppliers and manufacturers who agree to our strict Supplier Code of Conduct and with whom we have developed deep relationships, generally over many years. As part of our commitment to social and environmental responsibility, we offer Beyond Conflict Free™ Diamonds, recycled precious metals and FSC-certified wood ring boxes. We strive to offer products sourced in alignment with responsible labor and environmental practices, and continually work with our suppliers to seek to improve standards and traceability.

Beyond Conflict Free™ Diamonds

We go above and beyond current industry standards to offer Beyond Conflict Free™ Diamonds that have been selected for their ethical and environmentally responsible origins. Jewelers that offer “conflict free” diamonds meet the minimum standards of the Kimberley Process’ definition, which narrowly defines conflict diamonds as “rough diamonds used to finance wars against governments.” This minimum standards definition still allows large numbers of diamonds that are tainted by violence, human rights abuses, poverty, environmental degradation, and other issues.

Mining Practices and Standards

Our select group of natural diamond suppliers demonstrate a robust chain of custody protocol for their diamonds and have the ability to track and segregate diamonds by origin. These suppliers are required to source diamonds that originate from specific mine operations in specific countries that have demonstrated their commitment to follow internationally recognized labor, trade, and environmental standards. Our natural diamonds are sourced from approved mines in countries ranked low to moderate risk according to the Gemstones and Jewellery Community Platform Index for Conflict-Affected High-Risk Areas.

We are continuously improving our processes and working with our partners toward ever more rigorous procedures for diamond sourcing and handling. Our goal is to work with our suppliers and industry partners to continue leading the diamond industry in traceability.

Blockchain-Verified

To further our commitment to transparency and responsible sourcing, we have partnered with a leading technology enterprise that uses blockchain to securely track and trace the provenance of diamonds. This technology tracks a diamond from its origins at the mining operator, through cutting and polishing, to the customer. We offer thousands of blockchain-verified diamonds.

Capture Collection

In 2023, we introduced our Capture Collection, the world’s largest collection of lab-grown diamonds created using CO 2 captured before it is released into the atmosphere.

100% Renewable Collection

In 2023, we introduced our Renewable Collection, a collection of lab diamonds grown, cut, and polished with 100% renewable energy from wind and solar farms.

Diamonds from these collections can be set in a variety of styles, including bridal and fine jewelry though Brilliant Earth's Design Your Own experience.

Lab-Grown Diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds are created in highly controlled laboratory environments using advanced technological processes that duplicate the conditions under which diamonds develop in nature. These diamonds have the same physical, chemical, and optical characteristics as natural diamonds, and exhibit the same fire, scintillation, and sparkle. Lab-grown diamonds provide a mining-free alternative to natural diamonds.

Recycled Precious Metals

We strive to use 100% recycled gold and silver and generate year-over-year increases in the use of recycled platinum for our products. Our precious metals are sourced from certified responsible refiners who also hold recycling certifications from the Responsible Jewellery Council or other third-party validation. Currently our gold and silver fine jewelry is made primarily of recycled materials, and we continue to work with our suppliers to increase the usage of recycled metal in our products.

Metal mining, and gold mining in particular, is one of the most environmentally destructive types of mining, and gold miners often earn low wages in dangerous working conditions. Our objective is to help reduce the negative impacts of dirty gold and other metals by reducing demand for newly mined metals, focusing on recycled precious metals, and contributing to programs dedicated to improving mining practices.

Colored Gemstones

Our colored gemstone offerings include sapphires, emeralds, moissanites, and aquamarines. We strive to offer gemstones sourced in alignment with safe working conditions and environmentally responsible principles. By working with our colored gemstone suppliers to improve standards and traceability, we strive to promote higher standards for gemstone sourcing and encourage responsible practices. In 2021, we launched our Moyo Gems Collection, which empowers female artisanal miners in Tanzania through safer work environments, better mining practices, and improved equity in fair trade markets.

Recycled Diamonds

Recycled diamonds consist of existing polished diamonds that were previously sold, and are either in original condition or were re-polished and re-graded. Our recycled diamonds have been graded by an independent gemological lab and can be compared to newly mined diamonds for their quality characteristics. This product category is still nascent in the industry.

Operations, Manufacturing and Fulfillment

We manage complex global operations, manufacturing, and logistics networks to enable rapid turnaround times without compromising our commitment to quality, craftsmanship, and ethical sourcing. We have built a sophisticated technology platform to manage our supplier network, resulting in high-quality, customized jewelry produced at scale.

Inventory Management

We are able to offer a vast virtual inventory of diamonds while keeping our asset inventory low. Our sophisticated inventory management system and deep integration with our suppliers allow us to rapidly bring in inventory for appointments. Using our customer data, we curate the inventory for our in-person appointments, ensuring showroom visitors see a personalized and relevant selection. Pricing with our suppliers is determined based on product specifications, market conditions, and other variables. For example, diamond prices are determined based on market conditions, competition, and other factors, including the diamond’s attributes.

Manufacturing

We have relationships with long-term manufacturing partners, who have demonstrated and who we expect to continue to demonstrate their ability to meet our commitments for ethical sourcing, high quality, fast turnarounds and scalability. Pricing with our manufacturing partners is established and renegotiated based on product specifications, market conditions, and other variables. Our partners go through a rigorous onboarding process to ensure they meet our strict compliance and quality standards, including recycled metal content. Because we own the designs created by our in-house studio, we have flexibility to determine where the jewelry is manufactured to optimize cost, manufacturing capabilities and turnaround times.

Fulfillment and Logistics

Many of our products are made-to-order, and delivered in as little as six to twelve business days. For products that sell in higher, more consistent volumes, such as certain rings and finished jewelry, we batch produce and stock items to enable even faster customer delivery, typically in just two to five business days. Orders are shipped to customers directly from our fulfillment centers or from our manufacturing partners.

Packaging

Our responsibly sourced wood ring boxes are designed to be as iconic as the jewelry they hold. They are crafted with wood sourced from FSC certified forests, which are responsibly managed to protect the forests for future generations. Our paper-based shipping boxes are FSC Recycled and made from 100% post-consumer or pre-consumer recycled content.

Our People

We are extremely proud of our team who we believe embody our culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. As of December 31, 2023, we employed 668 full-time employees and 11 part-time employees in the U.S. We are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive work environment, and we strive to embody our values through our internal practices. We are proud that women comprise majorities of our employees, senior executive team, and the Board. We believe that our diversity makes us a stronger company.

None of our employees are currently represented by a labor union or are party to a collective bargaining agreement, and we have had no labor-related work stoppages. We believe that we have good relationships with our employees.

Our Culture

A defining part of working at Brilliant Earth is our culture, and it is a key ingredient of our success. It attracts talent, and we evaluate, celebrate, and promote team members based on our Pillars of Culture. Our Pillars of Culture are:

•Commitment to the Customer: Providing an exceptional customer experience is always our top priority.

•Partnership and Positivity: Foster a community of collaboration, inclusivity, respect, and encouragement. Celebrate each other’s differences and each other's victories, big, and small.

•Bias toward Action: When you see a need, step up rather than stand by. Discuss, test efficiently, and take action.

•Embrace Growth and Change: Be a champion of continuous improvement. Look for new opportunities to support business goals.

•Mission Mindset: Be an educated, passionate advocate of our mission in your role and beyond.

•Ownership: Be accountable for your actions, take pride in your work and inspire others with your example.

Competition

The global jewelry industry is highly fragmented. We operate in a competitive industry with other global jewelry retailers and brands, department stores, and independent stores, many of which have an online presence. Our primary competitors include:

•Jewelry retailers and brands, which sell directly to consumers through their own retail stores and online sites;

•Department stores, which sell an assortment of jewelry brands, and in some cases their own products, through stores and online sites; and

•Independent stores, including boutiques and “mom and pop” shops, who sell primarily through one or more local stores.

In addition, other retail categories and forms of expenditure, such as electronics and travel, also compete for consumers’ discretionary spending. The price of fine jewelry relative to other products also influences consumer spending on fine jewelry.

We compete based on brand differentiation, including our mission and values, product selection and quality, customization, price, consumer experience, and turnaround time. We believe that we compete favorably in the market for bridal and other fine jewelry products by focusing on these factors as well as our core values of transparency, sustainability, inclusivity, and giving back.

We believe our premium omnichannel customer experience, unique and exclusive designs, and purpose-driven brand create limited overlap with other industry participants.

Intellectual Property and Other Proprietary Rights

Our long-term commercial success is connected to our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our brand, products, and technology; defend and enforce our intellectual property rights; preserve the confidentiality of our trade secrets; operate our business without infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating the intellectual property or proprietary rights of third parties; and prevent third parties from infringing, misappropriating, or otherwise violating our intellectual property rights. We seek to protect our investments made into the development of our products, technologies, brand, and design by relying on a combination of copyrights, trademarks, domain names, and trade secrets, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions.

Our principal trademark assets include the registered trademark “Brilliant Earth” and our tagline and logos. Our trademarks are valuable assets that support our brand and consumers’ perception of our services and merchandise. The current registrations of these trademarks are effective for varying periods of time and may be renewed periodically, provided that we, as the registered owner, or our licensees where applicable, comply with all applicable renewal requirements, including, where necessary, the continued use of the trademarks in connection with the relevant goods or services. We expect to pursue additional trademark registrations to the extent we believe they would be beneficial and cost-effective. In addition to trademark protection, we also hold the registration to the “brilliantearth.com” internet domain name and various related domain names.

We primarily rely on copyright and trade secret laws to protect our proprietary technologies and processes, including the algorithms we use throughout our business. Trade secrets can be difficult to protect, however. Although we take steps to protect and preserve our trade secrets and our know-how, unpatented technology and other proprietary information, including by entering into intellectual property assignment agreements, non-compete agreements, and non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements and by maintaining physical security of our premises and physical and electronic security of our information technology systems, such measures can be breached, and we may not have adequate remedies for any such breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently discovered by competitors. As a result, we may not be able to meaningfully protect our trade secrets. For more information regarding the risks related to our intellectual property, see “Risk Factors—Risks related to Our Legal and Regulatory Environment—Failure to adequately obtain, maintain, protect and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights or prevent third parties from making unauthorized use of such rights could harm our brand, devalue our proprietary content and technology, and adversely affect our ability to compete effectively.”

Government Regulation

We are required to comply with numerous laws and regulations covering areas such as consumer protection, consumer privacy, data protection, privacy, consumer credit, payment processing, marketing and advertising, insurance, health and safety, waste disposal, supply chain integrity, truth in advertising and employment. We monitor changes in these laws to maintain compliance with applicable requirements.

We are subject to numerous local, state, federal and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy and data protection. Regulators throughout the United States and around the world have adopted or proposed and continue to adopt and propose limitations on, or requirements regarding, the collection, disclosure, distribution, use, security and storage of personal information, payment card information or other confidential information of individuals and the FTC and many state attorneys general are applying federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards on the online collection, use and dissemination of data. In the event of a security breach, these laws may subject us to incident response, notice and remediation costs. Failure to safeguard data adequately or to destroy data securely could subject us to regulatory investigations or enforcement actions under applicable data protection, data security, unfair practices or consumer protection laws. U.S. federal and state and foreign laws and regulations are constantly evolving. The scope and interpretation of these laws could change and the associated burdens and our compliance costs could increase in the future. For more information regarding the risks related to our privacy, data security and data protection practices, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Legal and Regulatory Environment—We are subject to rapidly changing and increasingly stringent laws and industry standards relating to privacy, data security, and data protection. The restrictions and costs imposed by these laws, or our actual or perceived failure to comply with them, could subject us to liabilities that adversely affect our business, operations, and financial performance.”

Seasonality

A larger share of our annual revenues traditionally occurs in the fourth quarter because it includes the November and December holiday sales period.

Corporate and Available Information

Our internet website address is www.brilliantearth.com. In addition to the information about us and our subsidiaries contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, information about us can be found on our website. The information on our website is not, and will not be deemed to be, a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or incorporated into any of our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), except where we expressly incorporate such information.

Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act are available free of charge through our website at www.brilliantearth.com as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. Additionally, the SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information. The address of the SEC's website is www.sec.gov.