The $11.5B Startup 100 Investors Turned Down | Term Sheet

Live shopping in China is a massive, multi-billion-dollar market, but for years, American platforms have struggled to crack the format. But in 2019, Grant LaFontaine and Logan Head started a live shopping marketplace for Funko Pops that not many investors believed in. Fast forward to today, Whatnot has transformed into a $11.5B valuation company, hitting 1 billion orders this year, overseeing transactions for everything from Pokémon cards to live seafood. It is now among the nation’s biggest shippers. Fortune’s Allie Garfinkle sits down with CEO Grant LaFontaine to talk about this unforeseen growth and the next steps for the company.