Whatnot raises 545 million US dollars in Series G round

Whatnot, the biggest live commerce platform in the UK, Europe and North America, has closed a 545 million US dollar Series G round, valuing the company at 20 billion US dollars, nearly doubling its valuation in less than a year.

The round was led by Iconiq, Lightspeed and Avra, with new investors, including Kleiner Perkins, Wellington Management, Robinhood Ventures Fund I, S32 and Standard Capital. Existing backers CapitalG, Y Combinator, Durable Capital Partners, Alkeon, Andreessen Horowitz, Greycroft, Bond, and DST also participated.

Grant LaFontaine, co-founder and chief executive of Whatnot, said in a statement: “Small businesses were the earliest adopters of live commerce on Whatnot, helping demonstrate what was possible. Today, businesses of all sizes are making live commerce a core part of their business.

"Our job is to help every seller grow. This investment allows us to build better tools, bring AI to more parts of the selling experience, help sellers reach more buyers, expand into new markets, and continue building the world's biggest and most trusted marketplace.”

Often described as a cross between Ebay and a live video stream, Whatnot allows individual sellers and businesses to host real-time video auctions, flash sales, and community chats, and has already surpassed its total 2025 gross merchandise volume (GMV) of more than 8 billion US dollars, with buyers also more than doubled over the past year.

Whatnot secures additional funding to accelerate small business growth through live commerce

The US remains Whatnot’s largest market, followed by the UK, where the company states live commerce is “growing rapidly,” with the number of UK sellers increasing by 360 percent over the past year, with those who go live daily generating an average of 30,000 pounds a month in sales, while buyers have more than doubled year-on-year.

As live commerce has grown, so has the type of sellers on Whatnot, ranging from small businesses to retailers and global brands. Over the past year, the number of sellers reaching more than 1 million US dollars in lifetime sales has more than doubled, while the share of sellers who now sell full-time on Whatnot has grown by 25 percent. The company adds that more than 650,000 people now join Whatnot every week, continuing to expand the customer base for sellers.

Whatnot nearly doubles valuation to 20 billion US dollars

Yoonkee Sull, general partner at Iconiq, said: “What impressed us most wasn’t just Whatnot’s growth, it was the businesses growing on the platform. Helping small businesses scale while attracting retailers and global brands is a powerful signal of where commerce is headed.”

Whatnot adds that the latest round of investment will see it building on its current momentum and investing in AI-powered tools that will help sellers “reach more customers, make better decisions, and spend less time on administrative work”. This includes smarter listings, deeper business insights, and integrations designed to simplify selling on Whatnot.

In addition, Whatnot also plans to continue strengthening the technology and safeguards to make Whatnot “the most trusted marketplace for buyers and sellers”.

This is Whatnot’s largest raise to date, bringing total funding to approximately 1.5 billion US dollars since its founding in 2019.

Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, added: “We first invested in Whatnot two years ago because we believed live is a new and accelerating channel to fuel growth for sellers of all sizes.

“The team has delivered on that thesis. Buyers and million-dollar sellers have both more than doubled, new categories and geographies are performing, and Whatnot has already passed all of last year’s volume six months into 2026. That’s why we’re deepening our commitment to the company.”

The global live commerce market was worth an estimated 172.9 billion US dollars in 2025 and is projected to grow from 230.3 billion US dollars in 2026 to 2,546.5 billion US dollars by 2033, at a CAGR of 41 percent from 2026 to 2033, according to Grand View Research. The market is still dominated by Asia Pacific, with a revenue share of 66.8 percent in 2025, but the UK, Europe and North America are growing regions.