Whatnot, a Los Angeles-based independent live shopping platform, has raised $260M in Series D funding at a valuation of $3.7B.
The round was co-led by DST Global and CapitalG with participation from BOND and returning investors Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and YC Continuity.
How will the funding be used?
The fresh capital will enable Whatnot to further develop its social commerce marketplace, and enable the company to launch additional categories for collectors and enthusiasts.
The company also plans to double down on collectible categories, expanding into diecast cars, stamps, and action figures and will continue expanding into multiple new categories.
Shopping destination for collectors and enthusiasts
Founded by Grant Lafontaine and Logan Head, Whatnot is the premier independent shopping destination for collectors and enthusiasts. Whatnot has popular collectibles categories such as sneakers, trading cards, sports cards and memorabilia, rare toys, and more.
The marketplace connects like-minded buyers and sellers and provides the opportunity for anyone to discover new hobbies and interests.
Last year, the company grew sales over 20 times year-over-year and more than tripled its monthly sales so far in 2022.
“This last year has been one of fast-paced growth largely attributed to the powerful community our platform is fostering,” says CEO and Co-founder Grant Lafontaine. “It’s been incredible to see how our app cultivates connections between people with shared hobbies, keeping them tuned in to our entertaining live streams even if they aren’t buying and providing a hub for anyone to browse and discover new interests. Building on this momentum, we have our sights set on expanding into more categories and creating new experiences for people with all types of passions and hobbies.”
As a result, Whatnot is continuing to hire across sales, marketing and engineering. Recently, Whatnot recruited Xinan Wu, previously at Citadel Securities, as Head of Infrastructure, and Agnieszka Podsiadło, previously at Lyft, as Head of Core Product Engineering.
Both will focus on scaling the engineering department and enhancing the platform experience as growth from buyers and sellers increases.
“Whatnot is one of the fastest growing marketplaces we’ve ever seen. Whatnot’s unique approach to social commerce combines social-media-like-engagement with best-in-class e-commerce commercialization, creating a powerful combination for buyers and sellers,” says Laela Sturdy, General Partner at CapitalG, who joined the Whatnot board as part of this investment.
He says, “In the 10 months since we co-led the Series C, Whatnot has successfully launched and scaled dozens of new categories, proving the horizontal power of the platform. We’re thrilled to double down on Whatnot by co-leading the Series D.”
To further build its community, Whatnot has launched successful activations and partnerships with artists such as Fat Joe, YouTuber and investor Logan Paul, and the exhibiting company Fan Expo.
“We are excited to partner with Grant Lafontaine and the Whatnot team as they build the leading social shopping platform globally,” said Saurabh Gupta, Co-founder and Managing Partner of DST Global.
