The news: Live shopping platform Whatnot is in talks to raise funding at a valuation of roughly $20 billion, according to Business Insider. That would be a significant upgrade from the $11.5 billion the company was previously valued at in October 2025.

How we got here: Whatnot has scaled quickly in the seven years since its founding. The company hit 1 billion orders in June, with over 20 items sold every second. It sells products across hundreds of categories; though fashion is the biggest by order volume, the company noted that more customers are shopping across categories than ever before. That includes segments like food and drink, an area that Whatnot is especially bullish on given its potential to act as a gateway product to get consumers interested in live shopping.

Unlike more intent-driven marketplaces, Whatnot’s advantage lies in convincing shoppers to buy products they weren’t necessarily looking for.

• 4 in 5 livestream shoppers discovered a new brand or product from a live shopping event, according to a December 2025 Adobe survey.
• Two-thirds have made a spur-of-the-moment purchase after clicking on a livestream.
• Roughly 1 in 3 digital shoppers (30%) say that live shopping events influence their purchase decisions, according to DHL.

As it scales, Whatnot is looking to enhance its discovery capabilities to keep users engaged and drive sales. The company recently acquired AI startup Shaped, which uses machine learning to build real-time ranking systems for search and recommendations, to help it better connect buyers to the sellers and products most likely to interest them.