Whatnot has raised $20M in Series A funding, led by Connie Chan, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Y Combinator, Wonder Ventures, Operator Partners, Scribble Ventures, Steve Aoki and Chris Zarou.
The company plans to use the funds to rapidly accelerate hiring, and expand into new categories like comic books, vintage video games and hardware, and more.
“Many of our biggest and most popular sellers have thriving communities on other platforms, but had to find work-arounds to actually buy and sell the pieces their fans were asking for,” said co-founder Logan Head. “Inspired by our own experiences buying and selling collectibles online, Whatnot creates a space that turns online shopping into entertainment, helps people connect live over the things they love, and is purpose-built to make it easy to foster both community and commerce.”
Co-founded in 2019 by former Facebook and GOAT employees Grant Lafontaine and Logan Head, Whatnot’s live stream shopping platform claims to capture the excitement of the in-person collector experience, allowing communities and fandoms to connect in real-time and geek out with their sellers over holy grail pieces and new products alike. The company currently specializes in live sales and card breaks for popular collectibles like Pokemon cards, sports cards, Funko Pops and more.
“Many companies are trying to duplicate the success of live stream shopping in the US, but while compelling platforms have been built, many have fallen short when it comes to fostering the community that keeps users engaged and coming back again and again,” said Chan. “Grant and Logan understand that it’s about more than functionality, and have tapped into the zeitgeist by engaging buyers and sellers around the products they love most.”
“Beginning with Instagram & Facebook, I always tried to find new ways to buy & sell collectibles. Those platforms, however, aren’t designed for direct sales,” said Whatnot sellers Robert Valentine and Lisa Bosco. “When I migrated to Whatnot, I was excited for the new experience to show off collectibles that people loved and increase my sales! Now, I use Instagram to promote my Whatnot Lives and show convention items that occur once every season. Whatnot is the main driver of my sales and with their live feature, I have experienced unprecedented demand that I couldn’t access on other platforms.”
Arya has been a part of the Content & Research Team at Hrnxt.com. She is a keen observer of economic developments, emerging businesses, people in business and keeps a tab on latest happenings in the business environment.