David’s Bridal plans to spin off its AI-powered Pearl platform
Brian Warmoth
David's Bridal to spin off Pearl AI | Image credit: Mahmoud Suhail - Adobe Stock
In 2025, David’s Bridal’s Shopify transition paved the way for an agentic artificial intelligence (AI) reimagining of its Pearl wedding planner — and now, the company has plans to spin off Pearl as its own entity.
K&F Growth Acquisition Corp. II, as special purposed acquisition company, announced alongside David’s Bridal, that the two companies had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to carry out a process to that would see Pearl go public.
Ultimately, their plan also calls for Pearl to eventually own David’s Bridal’s brand and intellectual property.
David’s Bridal is No. 460 in the Top 1000 Database. The market research tool tracks North America’s largest online retailers, ranking them by annual ecommerce sales and more.
David’s Bridal is also No. 178 in Digital Commerce 360 and ReFiBuy’s AI Commerce Rankings. That set of rankings is available in the Top 1000 Pro with AI Database.
Why is David’s Bridal spinning off Pearl?
“This is an exciting milestone in David’s Bridal’s 75-year history and a defining moment for our future,” said Kelly Cook, the CEO at David’s Bridal. “Pearl is shaping the next generation of wedding planning, and this next step will give both businesses room to grow independently while continuing to strengthen each other.”
In a press release, David’s Bridal noted that Cook is expected to become the CEO of Pearl, with Elina Vilk, the president and chief business officer at David’s Bridal, taking on the role of president at Pearl.
“With Pearl’s agentic technology and proven business model, combined with David’s Bridal’s strong brand and retail presence, we see tremendous opportunities to help more couples plan their weddings and connect with vendors who can bring their visions to life,” Cook stated.
Beyond agentic wedding planning assistance, Pearl also controls a retail media network called Pearl Media Network. That network was established when David’s Bridal acquired Love Stories TV. In addition, it has a proprietary platform, Pearl Connect. Pearl Connect is designed to enable the conversion of qualified leads into bookings.
“Pearl pairs longstanding relationships across the wedding industry with an asset-light software and media monetization model. We look forward to partnering with Kelly, Elina, and the Pearl team and believe our capital markets and M&A expertise will help accelerate Pearl’s growth,” said Edward King, co-CEO at K&F.
What’s next for David’s Bridal if the deal goes through
“We were drawn to Pearl’s compelling trifecta of established profitability, highly attractive growth potential and unlevered pristine balance sheet, which, in combination, we believe will create substantial public shareholder value,” said Dan Fetters, the other co-CEO at K&F.
Though a definitive agreement has not yet been reached, the announcement, dated Oct. 22, stipulates that David’s Bridal’s stores would “remain unaffected and will operate as usual, with no disruption to day-to-day operations, appointments, products, services or the guest experience” after the proposed transaction occurs.
The proposed deal values Pearl at $350 million. In addition, it calls for $75 million in private investment. $25 million of that total would come from CION Investment Corporation. CION is currently listed as David’s Bridal’s largest shareholder.
David’s Bridal claims that 90% of U.S. brides already engage with Pearl in some way. The retailer also forecasts that Pearl will generate margins higher than 30% in 2026. It expects revenue to grow by more than 100% year over year in 2027 to pass $85 million.
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