UFC Star Jorge Masvidal, Whatnot Partnering On Live Stream Collectibles Channel

Grant Lafontaine and Logan Head co-founded Whatnot in late 2019 primarily as an online marketplace where people could buy and sell Funko Pops, popular collectibles. But the two friends expanded the company’s focus last year to other categories, including sports cards. They also launched a live shopping platform patterned after the QVC
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cable channel or auctions, where sellers host a live stream and buyers bid for items.

Investors have been drawn to Whatnot’s live shopping experience and growth in the sports category, as evidenced by a $150 million Series C funding round in September that valued the company at $1.5 billion. Whatnot has caught the attention of some professional athletes, too.

Jorge Masvidal, the veteran UFC star, is the latest athlete to use Whatnot. Masvidal and Whatnot have formed a partnership where Masvidal will have his own shopping channel, The BRKRZ, on Whatnot.

Masvidal is launching the channel with a live show on Thursday where he will auction off a signed Team Masvidal glove and open a box of unopened packs of Panini Immaculate UFC cards that viewers can buy.

Lafontaine would not disclose details of the partnership with Masvidal, but he mentioned that Whatnot would receive a cut of any sales, similar to the agreement it has with other sellers on the platform.  

Masvidal plans on holding weekly shows on Whatnot and auctioning off sports cards that he’s collected, his own merchandise and items that he uses before and after fights.

“He’s the first person who’s going to fully launch their company on Whatnot,” Lafontaine said. “He’s one of the biggest names in UFC, so it’s pretty fun to see folks like him leveraging new technology like live shopping to build their business.”

Other athletes that have used Whatnot include former Major League Baseball players Evan Longoria and Paul LoDuca, both of whom sell sports cards and collectibles, and New York Giants linebacker Blake Martinez, who sells Pokemon cards.

Sports cards and collectibles are by far the largest categories on Whatnot with regards to revenue, according to Lafontaine. The most popular items are NBA- and NFL-related, but the company is looking to expand its Major League Baseball and professional soccer offerings.

Whatnot is also primarily focusing on the live show aspect of its business. Lafontaine estimates live online shopping is a $170 billion business in China, but it’s only about $1 billion in the U.S., although he expects substantial growth in the coming years as people in the U.S. want an interactive experience as opposed to the static experience of traditional marketplaces like eBay. That should attract other big name athletes and entertainers to use Whatnot to sell their items.

“As Whatnot becomes a bigger platform and live shopping becomes a bigger thing, our expectation is more and more people will come on board, both athletes and other notable folks,” Lafontaine said.

As of now, Whatnot has items in 28 categories on its platform, with the buying and selling of non-fungible tokens being its latest offering. That compares with 4,500 categories on eBay, but Lafontaine expects the number of categories on Whatnot will double or triple by next year.

Whatnot saw tremendous growth last year both in terms of traffic, revenue and fundraising. The company raised a $20 million Series A round in February, $50 million Series B round in May and $150 million Series C round in September. All told, the company has raised $225 million from well-known investors, including Andreesen Horowitz and YC Continuity.

That capital infusion has put Whatnot on solid financial footing, according to Lafontaine, but the company one day would love to have its common stock listed on a major exchange through an initial public offering.

“We currently don’t have any plans to do fundraising right now,” Lafontaine said. “We’re pretty well capitalized as a business. But I think we would one day love to IPO, though. We’re still a little way away from that, probably many years.”