Whatnot would reportedly have carried out the largest fundraising round in its history, according to FashionUnited France. L'opération, a Series G round worth 545 million US dollars, would now value the company at 20 billion dollars, nearly double its previous valuation in less than a year.
The funding round was led by Iconiq, Lightspeed and Avra. New investors joined the round, including Kleiner Perkins, Wellington Management, Robinhood Ventures Fund I, S32 and Standard Capital. Existing investors CapitalG, Y Combinator, Durable Capital Partners, Alkeon, Andreessen Horowitz, Greycroft, Bond and DST also took part. Whatnot's total funding since its founding in 2019 would thus reach approximately 1.5 billion US dollars.
Décrite as the largest live commerce platform in the Royaume-Uni, Europe and Amérique du Nord, Whatnot allows individual sellers and businesses to hold real-time video auctions, flash sales and community discussions. The platform would reportedly have already surpassed its total 2025 gross merchandise volume, which stood at more than 8 billion US dollars. The number of buyers, as well as the number of sellers exceeding one million dollars in total sales, would reportedly have more than doubled over the past year. Plus de 650,000 people would now reportedly join Whatnot every week.
In the Royaume-Uni, the platform's second-largest market behind the États-Unis, the number of sellers would reportedly have grown by 360% over the period, while the number of buyers would reportedly have more than doubled year on year. British sellers streaming live daily would reportedly generate an average of 30,000 pounds sterling in monthly sales, and the share of those now selling full-time would reportedly have increased by 25%.
Grant LaFontaine, co-founder and chief executive of Whatnot, said in a statement: « Les petites entreprises ont été les premières à adopter le live commerce sur Whatnot, contribuant à démontrer ce qui était possible. Aujourd'hui, des entreprises de toutes tailles font du live commerce un élément central de leur activité. » He added that the investment is meant to help build better tools, integrate AI into the selling experience and expand into new markets.
Yoonkee Sull, managing partner at Iconiq, noted that the growth of businesses on the platform impressed him as much as that of Whatnot itself. Bejul Somaia, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, recalled having invested in the company two years ago and said Whatnot would reportedly have already surpassed all of the previous year's volume just six months into 2026.
This fundraising comes as the global live commerce market, estimated at 172.9 billion US dollars in 2025 according to Grand View Research, is expected to reach 230.3 billion dollars in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 41% through 2033. The Asie-Pacifique region accounted for 66.8% of revenue in 2025.
