All the fundraising deals in the social commerce market (from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026)
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The social commerce market saw 20 funding rounds between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026, totaling just over $1 billion raised across live shopping, creator storefronts, and conversational commerce.
Funding was heavily concentrated, with a handful of large deals dominating each quarter, while a wave of smaller infrastructure bets signaled where the next phase of growth may come from.
Live shopping marketplaces captured the most capital in absolute terms, but the fastest-growing segment by deal count was the software layer connecting social discovery to checkout.
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Insights
- Whatnot alone raised $490M across two rounds in the social commerce market during this period, representing nearly 48% of total capital raised across all 20 deals.
- Conversational commerce via WhatsApp became a genuinely global sub-sector, with deals spanning Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and beyond over just five quarters.
- The average deal size in the social commerce market was around $50M per quarter, but that figure is almost entirely driven by one or two mega-rounds in each quarter.
- When you strip out the top deal per quarter, the remaining social commerce rounds average well below $15M, revealing a market where mid-tier funding is still relatively rare.
- Q4 2025 was the most active quarter by total capital, yet it had the same number of deals as Q1 2025, showing that round sizes grew rather than deal volume expanding.
- Six out of ten of the most active investors in the social commerce market backed Whatnot or ShopMy specifically, pointing to a high degree of conviction around just two platforms.
- India produced two very different social commerce models in the same period: creator-led affiliate commerce through Wishlink and community-first grocery commerce through CityMall.
- Q1 2026 recorded the lowest total capital raised of any quarter in the dataset at $35.5M, but both deals were B2B infrastructure plays rather than consumer apps, which may indicate a strategic shift.
- The creator commerce and storefront infrastructure category attracted six separate deals, the most by deal count of any category, suggesting the market is still highly fragmented at the infrastructure level.
- Southeast Asia emerged as a meaningful hub for social commerce startups, with Mantayay in Malaysia and Wishlink in India both raising during the period alongside established global players.
In our social commerce market deck, we will give you useful market maps and grids
Summary table of the funding deals in the social commerce market (last 5 quarters)
We define social commerce as e-commerce transactions that are initiated from social platforms (organic content, creators, live content, or paid social ads).
We include both in-app checkout and click-through purchases on merchant sites, as well as DM-assisted ordering when the purchase is clearly initiated on social.
We exclude commerce that is only loosely "influenced" by social with no attributable initiation, and general marketplaces or resale not primarily driven by social-platform initiation.
You can also read our detailed analysis to understand how funding activity in the social commerce market has evolved over the last few years.
Also, you should know that we have a dedicated page, updated weekly, with all the latest fundraising deals in the social commerce market.
| Name | What they do | Amount | Quarter | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whatnot | Live-video shopping marketplace for real-time auctions across collectibles and fashion. | $265M | Q1 2025 | TechCrunch |
| ShopMy | Creator commerce platform turning social recommendations into trackable affiliate sales. | $77.5M | Q1 2025 | PR Newswire |
| Wyrld | Gen Z social shopping app where creators lead the discovery and purchase experience. | $1.1M | Q1 2025 | EU-Startups |
| Taager | Social e-commerce platform helping MENA sellers source products and manage logistics. | $6.75M | Q1 2025 | Disrupt Africa |
| YaVendio | AI sales assistant that completes purchases through WhatsApp conversations in Latin America. | $0.85M | Q1 2025 | Contxto |
| Merx | AI platform connecting brands and consumers through WhatsApp-driven sales journeys. | $1.2M | Q1 2025 | EU-Startups |
| Manychat | Business messaging platform automating sales across Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Messenger. | $140M | Q2 2025 | TechCrunch |
| Palmstreet | Livestream shopping app for niche collectors across plants, crystals, crafts, and more. | $25M | Q2 2025 | Palmstreet Blog |
| Nectar Social | Social commerce platform tying DM selling and community management to measurable brand revenue. | $10.6M | Q2 2025 | PR Newswire |
| VideoShops | Open creator storefront platform replacing affiliate links with same-day payout infrastructure. | $42M | Q3 2025 | Inc. |
| CityMall | Community-driven commerce app for groceries and lifestyle products in smaller Indian towns. | $47M | Q3 2025 | TechCrunch |
| TextYess | AI-powered WhatsApp commerce platform for automated global sales and customer support. | $2.6M | Q3 2025 | AI Insider |
| ShopMy | Curated commerce infrastructure connecting premium brands, creators, and shoppers. | $70M | Q4 2025 | PR Newswire |
| Whatnot | Live shopping marketplace with real-time video auctions across apparel, sneakers, and collectibles. | $225M | Q4 2025 | Crunchbase News |
| Mantayay | Creator-commerce company helping TikTok creators in Southeast Asia connect content to sales. | $5M | Q4 2025 | Digital News Asia |
| Paage | AI workspace for creators to build pages, manage audiences, handle payments, and sell. | $2.4M | Q4 2025 | Tech Funding News |
| Agentio | AI-native platform matching brands and creators to shift ad spend into measurable creator channels. | $40M | Q4 2025 | TechCrunch |
| Vambe | AI platform automating WhatsApp sales and customer support for consumer brands in Latin America. | $14M | Q4 2025 | SiliconANGLE |
| Statusphere | AI influencer marketing platform helping brands scale micro-influencer programs tied to product discovery. | $18M | Q1 2026 | Business Wire |
| Wishlink | Creator commerce platform turning Instagram and YouTube recommendations into shoppable storefronts. | $17.5M | Q1 2026 | YourStory |
In our social commerce market deck, we identify pain points entrepreneurs should prioritize
How has funding activity in the social commerce market changed over time?
Q4 2025 was the most active quarter by total capital at $356.4M, but that figure was driven almost entirely by Whatnot's $225M Series F, which alone accounted for 63% of the quarter's total.
Q1 2026 was the quietest quarter by far at just $35.5M across two deals, though both were B2B infrastructure rounds rather than consumer platform bets, which may reflect a shift in where investors are putting conviction.
Compared to Q4 2025, Q1 2026 was down about 90% in total capital raised; compared to Q1 2025 a year earlier, Q1 2026 was down about 90% as well, though those comparisons are distorted by Whatnot's outsized rounds in both comparison periods.
If you strip out the single largest deal per quarter, the remaining funding in the social commerce market was much more consistent, hovering between $87M and $131M in most quarters, suggesting a steady mid-market layer of deals running underneath the headline rounds.
| Quarter | Number of deals | Total raised | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | 6 | $352.4M | Dominated by Whatnot's $265M Series E, which alone represented three-quarters of all capital that quarter. |
| Q2 2025 | 3 | $175.6M | Fewer deals but Manychat's $140M round kept totals high; the weakest quarter by deal count. |
| Q3 2025 | 3 | $91.6M | The most evenly distributed quarter, with no single deal above $50M and a narrower spread between rounds. |
| Q4 2025 | 6 | $356.4M | Busiest quarter overall, with Whatnot's $225M Series F and ShopMy's $70M growth round anchoring the totals. |
| Q1 2026 | 2 | $35.5M | The quietest quarter in dollar terms, with only two deals, both focused on B2B creator infrastructure rather than consumer platforms. |
| All quarters | 20 | $1,011.5M | Over $1 billion raised in the social commerce market in five quarters, but heavily skewed by a few mega-rounds. |
In our social commerce market deck, we identify repeatable patterns you can use if you’re building in this market
Which startups in the social commerce market raised the largest rounds over the last months?
These startups raised the most recently in the social commerce market:
- Whatnot raised $265M in January 2025 to fund product development and international expansion as live shopping continued to scale fast, pushing its valuation to nearly $5B.
- Whatnot raised $225M again in October 2025 as a Series F, more than doubling its valuation to $11.5B, backed by DST Global, CapitalG, and Sequoia among others.
- Manychat raised $140M led by Summit Partners to expand its AI-powered business messaging stack across Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and other social channels.
- ShopMy raised $77.5M in January 2025 led by Bessemer and Bain Capital Ventures to scale performance-first creator marketing and deepen its brand and creator ecosystem.
- ShopMy raised $70M again in October 2025 at a $1.5B valuation, led by Avenir, to scale its creator-brand operating system further into premium commerce.
- CityMall raised $47M in September 2025, led by Accel, to keep competing in community-led commerce for smaller Indian cities against fast-delivery rivals.
- VideoShops raised $42M in August 2025 to replace traditional affiliate links with open creator storefronts and same-day payout infrastructure for sellers.
- Agentio raised $40M in November 2025, led by Forerunner, to scale its AI-native platform and move more digital ad spend into creator-led conversion channels.
- Palmstreet raised $25M in May 2025 backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Craft Ventures to grow its niche live shopping community across plants, crystals, and collectibles.
- Statusphere raised $18M in January 2026, led by Volition Capital, to expand its AI platform for micro-influencer programs as social-led product discovery grows in importance.
And, yes, we do cover most of them in our beautiful pitch about the social commerce market.
You may also want to check our ranking of the most funded startups in the social commerce market as well as our list of the most valued startups.
In our social commerce market deck, we answer all the common questions from investors and entrepreneurs
Is the social commerce market shifting toward smaller or bigger deals?
Across all five quarters, the average deal size in the social commerce market was about $50.6M, but that figure is almost entirely explained by a few very large rounds at the top.
The average deal size per quarter ranged from roughly $17.8M in Q1 2026 to $59.4M in Q4 2025, and those swings mostly track whether a mega-round landed in that quarter rather than any real shift in deal size at the mid-market level.
If you exclude the single largest deal per quarter, the average social commerce funding round drops to around $12M to $22M across most quarters, suggesting the underlying deal environment is actually quite stable and mid-sized.
| Quarter | Number of deals | Average deal size | Deals below $2M | Deals above $50M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | 6 | $58.7M | 3 | 2 |
| Q2 2025 | 3 | $58.5M | 0 | 1 |
| Q3 2025 | 3 | $30.5M | 0 | 0 |
| Q4 2025 | 6 | $59.4M | 0 | 2 |
| Q1 2026 | 2 | $17.8M | 0 | 0 |
| All quarters | 20 | $50.6M | 3 | 5 |
In our social commerce market deck, we help you understand how the market is structured
How concentrated was funding activity in the social commerce market?
Funding concentration in the social commerce market was strikingly high throughout this period, with the single largest deal per quarter capturing between 50% and 80% of all capital raised that quarter. This pattern held consistently across every quarter in the dataset, which tells you that the market is not spreading bets evenly but doubling down on a small number of category leaders.
Even the top three deals per quarter accounted for 94% to 100% of all social commerce funding raised in that period, meaning the vast majority of startups in this space are raising relatively small rounds that barely register at the macro level.
| Quarter | Number of deals | % by top 1 | % by top 3 | % by top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | 6 | 75.2% | 99.1% | 100% |
| Q2 2025 | 3 | 79.7% | 100% | 100% |
| Q3 2025 | 3 | 51.3% | 100% | 100% |
| Q4 2025 | 6 | 63.1% | 94.0% | 100% |
| Q1 2026 | 2 | 50.7% | 100% | 100% |
| All quarters | 20 | 48.3% | 86.7% | 100% |
In our social commerce market deck, we have designed useful charts to give you full market clarity
Which categories in the social commerce market received the most funding?
Live shopping marketplaces captured $515M, or about 51% of all social commerce funding in the period, almost entirely because of Whatnot's two enormous rounds; without Whatnot, this category would look much smaller and much less dominant.
Creator commerce and storefront infrastructure raised $215.5M across six deals, making it the most active category by deal count and the second largest by capital; the funding here was spread more evenly, which suggests the space is still fragmented and investors are placing multiple bets rather than backing a single winner.
Conversational commerce via WhatsApp and messaging channels raised $169.3M across six deals, showing that this sub-sector has moved well beyond its emerging-market origins and is now attracting meaningful capital across Latin America, Europe, and globally.
| Category | Number of deals | Total raised | Startups and amounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live shopping marketplaces | 3 | $515M | Whatnot ($265M, Q1 2025), Palmstreet ($25M, Q2 2025), Whatnot ($225M, Q4 2025) |
| Creator commerce / storefront / affiliate infrastructure | 6 | $215.5M | ShopMy ($77.5M, Q1 2025), VideoShops ($42M, Q3 2025), ShopMy ($70M, Q4 2025), Mantayay ($5M, Q4 2025), Paage ($2.4M, Q4 2025), Wishlink ($17.5M, Q1 2026) |
| Conversational commerce / WhatsApp / DM commerce | 6 | $169.3M | YaVendio ($0.85M, Q1 2025), Merx ($1.2M, Q1 2025), Manychat ($140M, Q2 2025), Nectar Social ($10.6M, Q2 2025), TextYess ($2.6M, Q3 2025), Vambe ($14M, Q4 2025) |
In our social commerce market deck, we cover the latest tech updates shaping the market
Who are the biggest investors in the social commerce market?
Andreessen Horowitz participated in three deals, all of them live shopping marketplace rounds: both Whatnot raises and the Palmstreet round, making it the most consistent backer of the live commerce thesis in the social commerce market.
Avra participated in two deals, both as a co-lead in Whatnot's back-to-back mega-rounds, which means Avra had concentrated exposure to the highest-valued social commerce platform in the dataset.
Bessemer Venture Partners participated in two deals, both in ShopMy, backing the creator commerce infrastructure platform in Q1 2025 and again in Q4 2025 as it scaled toward a $1.5B valuation.
Bain Capital Ventures participated in two deals, both in ShopMy, co-investing alongside Bessemer in both rounds and maintaining its position as a consistent supporter of the creator-led affiliate commerce model.
Menlo Ventures participated in two deals, both in ShopMy, making it the third firm to back ShopMy twice, showing just how much conviction a small group of investors had in that specific platform.
DST Global participated in two deals, both as a co-lead in Whatnot's Series E and Series F rounds, making it one of the clearest high-conviction backers of live shopping in the social commerce market.
BOND participated in two deals, both in Whatnot, appearing as an investor across both the Q1 2025 and Q4 2025 rounds as Whatnot scaled its valuation from $5B to $11.5B.
Y Combinator participated in two deals, both in Whatnot, continuing its long-standing support of the platform across multiple late-stage rounds.
Craft Ventures participated in two deals across different platforms, backing Palmstreet in Q2 2025 and Agentio in Q4 2025, showing a broader interest in the creator-led commerce infrastructure layer.
AlleyCorp participated in two deals, backing ShopMy in Q1 2025 and Agentio in Q4 2025, with a clear focus on the B2B infrastructure and creator monetization side of the social commerce market.
Disclaimer: this investor list may be incomplete; we focus on publicly disclosed lead and prominent recurring investors, so some frequent minority participants may be underrepresented. "Total funded" does not represent the amount personally invested by an individual investor. Instead, it refers to the aggregate amount raised across all fundraising rounds in which the investor participated.
| Investor | Number of deals | Total funded | Startups |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andreessen Horowitz | 3 | $515M | Whatnot (Q1 2025), Palmstreet, Whatnot (Q4 2025) |
| Avra | 2 | $490M | Whatnot (Q1 2025), Whatnot (Q4 2025) |
| DST Global | 2 | $490M | Whatnot (Q1 2025), Whatnot (Q4 2025) |
| BOND | 2 | $490M | Whatnot (Q1 2025), Whatnot (Q4 2025) |
| Y Combinator | 2 | $490M | Whatnot (Q1 2025), Whatnot (Q4 2025) |
| Bessemer Venture Partners | 2 | $147.5M | ShopMy (Q1 2025), ShopMy (Q4 2025) |
| Bain Capital Ventures | 2 | $147.5M | ShopMy (Q1 2025), ShopMy (Q4 2025) |
| Menlo Ventures | 2 | $147.5M | ShopMy (Q1 2025), ShopMy (Q4 2025) |
| Craft Ventures | 2 | $65M | Palmstreet, Agentio |
| AlleyCorp | 2 | $117.5M | ShopMy (Q1 2025), Agentio |
In our social commerce market deck, we track adoption trends and shifts in consumer behavior
Related blog posts
- A full list of funding deals in social commerce
- The startups that have raised the most funding in social commerce
