Whatnot

Whatnot runs a marketplace where sellers host live video shows and auction or sell items to viewers in real time, with payments and shipping handled inside the app. It began in 2019 as an authenticated resale site for Funko Pop figurines, added livestream auctions in 2020, and grew into sports and Pokemon trading cards, comics, sneakers, apparel, electronics and food. Grant LaFontaine (CEO) and Logan Head founded the company, which went through Y Combinator and is based in Marina del Rey, California, with hubs in the US and Europe. It earns revenue mainly from seller fees.

In December 2020 Whatnot raised a $4 million seed round from Scribble Ventures, Operator Partners, Wonder Ventures, Y Combinator and angels. In March 2021 Connie Chan of Andreessen Horowitz led a $20 million Series A, and in May 2021 Anu Hariharan of the Y Combinator Continuity fund led a $50 million Series B with Andreessen Horowitz and Animal Capital. In September 2021 a $150 million Series C from Andreessen Horowitz, YC Continuity and new investor CapitalG valued the company at $1.5 billion. In July 2022 DST Global and CapitalG co-led a $260 million Series D at $3.7 billion, with BOND joining. In January 2025 Avra, DST Global and Greycroft co-led a $265 million Series E at $4.97 billion, with Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, BOND, Durable Capital Partners and Y Combinator, alongside a tender offer of up to $72 million for employee shares. In late 2025 DST Global and CapitalG co-led a $225 million Series F at $11.5 billion, adding Sequoia Capital and Alkeon Capital; Lightspeed Venture Partners and Liquid 2 Ventures were also investors. Total funding is about $968 million.

Whatnot is private. It reported annual livestream gross merchandise value above $3 billion at the Series E. Fortune reported in June 2025 that the company was unprofitable and forecasting more than $6 billion in 2025 GMV, about double its 2024 figure. In July 2026 it acquired Shaped, a recommendations startup. In March 2026 customers filed arbitration claims alleging that card "breaks" on the platform amount to illegal gambling, which Whatnot disputes.

Whatnot is a case of seed investors compounding through repeated step ups. Y Combinator and the seed funds entered at a $4 million round in 2020, Andreessen Horowitz led the Series A three months later, and the company passed a $1 billion valuation within nine months of its seed. The valuation then rose from $1.5 billion in 2021 to $11.5 billion in 2025. Early holders have had partial liquidity only through the 2025 tender.