Online shopping platform Whatnot announced a $225 million Series F funding round. The company operates a live video shopping platform where users can buy and sell items like collectibles and electronics through livestreamed auctions. The capital raise, co-led by DST Global and CapitalG, brings the company’s valuation to $11.5 billion, according to reporting by Retail Technology Innovation Hub.
The new capital will help Whatnot enhance its platform and expand its global reach. The company plans to invest a large portion of its latest sum in marketing initiatives. Whatnot will work to help sellers reach more buyers in a broader range of categories by expanding its reach across paid marketing and strategic partnerships.
Additionally, the company will enhance the systems that keep it trustworthy by improving support response times, improving issue detection and prevention and adding more team members dedicated to its trust and safety function. Whatnot will also launch new features to simplify business management for its sellers, including tools that enhance discoverability for buyers and AI-supported tools to streamline selling.
