Today we are thrilled to triple down on Whatnot, the clear leader in live commerce across the US, the UK and Europe. Since we co-led its Series C in 2021 and its Series D in 2022, GMV has already surpassed $6 billion this year, more than twice its total for all of 2024–with the best yet to come. We are proud to co-lead its Series F.
Offline shopping has always been social and entertaining. People wander through stores, discover things they didn’t know they wanted, and bond with sellers who share their passions. The transition to e-commerce made shopping more efficient but far less personal. Research and search boxes replaced advice. The utilitarian Amazon-like model works brilliantly for focused, high-intention purchases, such as a specific book or a new phone, but it underserves the categories where the discovery itself is a part of the delight.
Whatnot brings the joy of the hunt online–a joy that has been largely lost with online shopping. Each stream blends storefront, show, and community hangout. Users spend an average 80 minutes per day on the platform, more akin to a favorite hobby than to a transactional e-commerce purchase funnel.
Social and live commerce in the US and Europe has long been an unrealized promise. Many have tried to copy-paste models that worked in China and struggled to find a real audience. Whatnot found what works by focusing on an intuitive yet overlooked audience: enthusiast communities.
Community has always been the beating heart of certain types of shopping. When formal venues don’t exist, enthusiasts build their own. Long before Whatnot, sports card fans ran “breaks” on YouTube and Twitch, sneakerheads traded on Discord, and vintage fashion lovers held live Instagram auctions from their living rooms. Whatnot takes that instinct and gives it structure, scale, and trust.
Scaling Live Commerce Globally
We have more conviction than ever in Whatnot’s trajectory towards building one of the world’s iconic marketplaces.
In the four years since our initial investment, Whatnot has evolved from a young collectibles marketplace into a multi-category, global shopping destination. What started as a venue for collectors to buy trading cards and Funko Pops has now diversified into 140+ categories and expanded into 9 countries. Whatnot has joined a rarefied group of marketplaces with accelerating growth at scale, a testament to the strength of the value they’re bringing to both buyers and sellers.
Whatnot co-founders Grant LaFontaine and Logan Head are truly exceptional founders. They build with velocity, set high standards, show strong intuition paired with flexible thinking, and are uniquely customer obsessed. They deftly balance long-term ambition with what needs to be prioritized each day.
Whatnot is one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in history, yet it's striking how much potential there remains across current categories, future categories, and adjacent product opportunities.
Grant, Logan, and the Whatnot team are bringing joy to millions of shoppers and creating a livelihood for hundreds of thousands of small businesses. We’re proud to lead our third round in Whatnot over just four years.