WhatNot, the shopping app for live-streamed auctions, is close to generating $1 billion in revenues for full-year 2025, The Information learns “a person with knowledge of the company’s finances.” This would be up from FY24’s $359 million. This year’s gross merchandise value had by October more than doubled year-on-year to exceed €6 billion, according to Business of Fashion.
The app is not yet profitable, however. It derives its revenues from commissions (8% to 11%) and advertising and has been pouring money into seller tools and international expansion. The founding market was the US (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands included). Canada and the UK followed in 2023/24, and then France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and, most recently, Australia.
WhatNot was founded in December 2019 by Grant LaFontaine (CEO) and Logan Head (CTO). The most recent funding round (Series F), late this year, pushed the company valuation up to $11.5 billion. Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz were the early investors, followed by such firms as Greycroft, DST Global, Avra and CapitalG.
The app connects buyers with auctions and Buy-It-Now listings, like eBay, but the standard auctions are live-streamed in real time and hosted by the sellers themselves. Among the more than 250 categories are “sports apparel” (vintage kits, collectibles, fan merchandise) and a broader “sports.” Sneakers are common items.
A WhatNot blog article from May 2025, fed on data from Censuswide, has much to say about golf buyers on the app, whose numbers had risen by 80 percent over the previous six months. It claims that the average WhatNot “golf viewer” spends $300 a month and watches about six and a half hours of golf shows (vs. three to six hours of televized tournaments) per week. Moreover:
- 60 percent of golfers spend at least four hours a week playing during peak season
- 28 percent spend more time on golf than with their significant other (39% for Gen Z)
- 55 percent plan to invest in new gear this year (average budget: $1,121)
- 20 percent expect to spend $5,000 to $9,999 on memberships, lessons and travel
- Millennials are the highest spenders ($4,557 per year on average)
- 43 percent now buy golf gear online (59% for Gen Z)
- 36 percent watch product demos or livestreams before buying
- 27 percent say a livestream convinced them to make a purchase
The company’s first European Market Report, for 2025, finds a fairly even split between the users of Gen Z (25%), the Millennials (35%), Gen X (23%) and the Baby Boomers (16%).
