Whatnot Inc., a livestream shopping platform that competes with TikTok Shop, raised $265 million at a valuation of $4.97 billion in a funding round led by Greycroft Partners, DST Global and Avra.
The startup, which was founded in 2019, has emerged as an alternative to TikTok’s shopping features. Last year, more than $3 billion worth of goods were sold on Whatnot, including sneakers, collectibles, vinyl records and handbags.
“The opportunity for what live and social commerce can do for sellers and sellers’ businesses is pretty tremendous,” Whatnot co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Grant LaFontaine said in an interview. “It’s going to be one of those things that changes every kind of category and part of retail.”
Whatnot, based in Los Angeles, has thousands of sellers across eight countries including the US, Canada, France and Germany. Over 175,000 hours of livestreams are hosted on the platform each week, according to the company.
“It is Instagram meets eBay,” said Val Zapata, a Whatnot seller and founder of the Shoe Game Co., which sold over $6 million worth of sneakers on the site last year. “You have a marketplace but you have to entertain these people.”
The ability to turn shopping into entertainment has made live selling successful in parts of Asia-Pacific, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance Ltd. is based. TikTok Shop has since emerged as a key part of that company’s business in the US, and executives last year planned to sell more than $17 billion worth of goods through the platform.
Whatnot’s funding round coincides with a looming US ban on TikTok, potentially sending some of its live sellers to competitors. ByteDance faces a Jan. 19 deadline to sell TikTok in the US though incoming President Donald Trump could intervene.
“We’ll happily help any of those sellers regroup and build a really great live and social business,” LaFontaine said.
Whatnot will use its recent funding to hire more engineers, improve customer service, expand into new countries such as Australia and launch more categories, including golf and art, LaFontaine said. The startup plans a tender offer to repurchase up to $72 million of its shares. It has raised $746 million from investors since launch.
Greycroft and Avra are new investors in Whatnot, along with Lightspeed Venture Partners and Durable Capital Partners, the company said. They participated alongside returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, CapitalG, BOND and Y Combinator.
By Aisha Counts
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