Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Aterian, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATER) securities between December 1, 2020 and May 3, 2021, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The case is captioned Tate v. Aterian, Inc., No. 21-cv-4323, and is assigned to Judge Victor Marrero. The Aterian class action lawsuit charges Aterian and certain of its top executives with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Aterian securities during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Aterian class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Aterian class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Aterian class action lawsuit. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Aterian class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Aterian class action lawsuit or have questions concerning your rights regarding the Aterian class action lawsuit, please provide your information here or contact counsel, Michael Albert of Robbins Geller, at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058 or via e-mail at malbert@rgrdlaw.com. Lead plaintiff motions for the Aterian class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than July 12, 2021.

Aterian is a “technology-enabled consumer products platform that builds, acquires and partners with e-commerce brands.” Aterian predominantly operates through online retail channels such as Amazon and Walmart, Inc. On December 1, 2020, Aterian announced that it had acquired the assets of “leading e-commerce business brands Mueller, Pursteam, Pohl and Schmitt, and Spiralizer” from 9830 Macarthur LLC, ZN Direct LLC, and Reliance Equities Group, LLC.

The Aterian class action lawsuit alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that: (i) Aterian’s organic growth was plummeting; (ii) Aterian’s recent, self-lauded acquisitions were overpayments for flawed assets from questionable sources; (iii) Aterian’s purported artificial intelligence software was a flawed product that lacks customer interest; (iv) Aterian used rebate programs and paid for artificial reviews to pump up their product offerings; and (v) as a result, Aterian’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On May 4, 2021, analyst Culper Research published a scathing report entitled: “Aterian (ATER): Bought from Felons & Fraudsters, Sold to You.” In this report, Culper wrote that Aterian “has ties to convicted criminals and is promoting what we believe is an overhyped ‘AI’ narrative and a string of garbage acquisitions to mask the failure of its already ill-conceived core business.” Culper continued that “Aterian has been largely unsuccessful in convincing other Amazon sellers to pay for its ‘AIMEE’ AI platform, and at least 5 former employees and a former customer have expressed doubts regarding AIMEE’s legitimacy. We think that Aterian’s underlying business has failed, forcing [Aterian] to obscure its poor performance with a series of questionable acquisitions.” Culper further wrote: “We believe that there are serious problems with Aterian’s claims to maintain strong organic growth and to drive M&A synergies: to us, neither of these appears to be the case. . . . In our view, this suggests not only that Aterian is unable to grow EBITDA at acquired businesses, but that its core business is also failing to produce.” On this news, the price of Aterian stock fell by approximately 24% the following two trading days, damaging investors.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading law firms representing investors in securities class action litigation. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked Robbins Geller as one of the top law firms in the world in both amount recovered and total number of class action settlements for shareholders every year since 2010. The SCAS 2020 Top 50 Report ranked Robbins Geller first for recovering $1.6 billion for investors last year, more than double the amount recovered by any other plaintiffs’ firm. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Robbins Geller attorneys are consistently recognized by courts, professional organizations, and the media as leading lawyers in the industry. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.

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