Live shopping platform Whatnot has raised $265 million in Series E investment, co-led by Greycroft, DST Globl, and Avra, to fund further expansion. Greycroft and Avra are new investors in this round, along with Lightspeed Venture Partners and Durable Capital Partners. Returning investors in the round included Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), CapitalG, BOND, and Y Combinator.
The new funding will be used to invest in customer experience, the development of seller tools, new market expansion (both categories and geographies), and a reinforced commitment to trust and safety, the company said. It also plans to buy back up to $72 million in shares, which it described as signaling "Whatnot's commitment to continue to invest in its employees worldwide."
The post-money valuation of Whatnot stands at $4.97 billion after this new round. Whatnot previously raised $260 million in its Series D round in 2022, with a $3.7 billion post-money valuation; and $150 million in Series C investment in 2021, with a $1.5 billion post-money valuation (see "Money Pours In").
Whatnot is making a significant impact on the TCG and comics markets; Whatnot reported this summer that 3% of vendors were selling TCG products, 3% were selling "comics and anime," and 8% were selling "toys and hobbies" (see "Live Selling by the Numbers"). While those percentages aren't huge, the pie is big and growing fast: Whatnot reported that the gross merchandise value of livestream sales on the platform was over $3 billion in 2024, more than twice the sales in 2023. The number of new sellers and first-time buyers also doubled over the past year.
To Fund Further Expansion
Posted by Milton Griepp on January 9, 2025 @ 3:26 am CT
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