Distinguished VCs back wholesale marketplace Faire with $100M at a $535M valuation

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A slew of venture capitalists known for high-profile exits — Kirsten Green of Forerunner Ventures, Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures,
Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital and Alex Taussig of Lightspeed Venture Partners — have invested in Faire (formerly known as Indigo Fair), a
2-year-old wholesale marketplace for artisanal products.A quick glance at Faire suggests it’s a combination of Pinterest and Etsy,
complete with trendy, pastel stationery, soap, baby products and more, all made by independent artisans and sold to retailers
Faire has today announced a $100 million fundraise across two financing rounds: a $40 million Series B led by Taussig at Lightspeed and a
$60 million Series C led by Y Combinator’s Continuity fund
New investors Founders Fund, the venture firm founded by Peter Thiel, and DST Global also participated
The business has previously brought in a total of $16 million.The latest financing values Faire at $535 million, according to a source
familiar with the deal.If you’re feeling a little bit of déjà vu, that’s because a similar startup also raised a sizeable round of
venture capital funding, announced today
That’s Minted
The 10-year-old company, best known for its wide assortment of wedding invitations and stationery, raised $208 million led
by Permira, with participation from T
Rowe Price
Though Minted is first and foremost a consumer-facing marketplace, it plans to double down on its wholesale business with its latest
infusion of capital, setting it up to be among Faire’s biggest competitors.Like Minted, Faire leverages artificial intelligence and
predictive analytics to forecast which products will fly off its virtual shelves in order to to source and manage inventory as efficiently
as possible
The approach appears to be working; Faire says it has 15,000 retailers actively purchasing from its platform — a 3,140 percent
year-over-year increase
It’s garnered $100 million in run rate sales and has expanded its community of artists 445 percent YoY, to 2,000.The company,
headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Ontario and Waterloo, was founded by three former Square employees: chief executive officer
Max Rhodes, who was product manager on a variety of strategic initiatives, including Square Capital and Square Cash; chief data officer
Daniele Perito, who led risk and security for Square Cash; and chief technology officer Marcelo Cortes, a former engineering lead for Square
Cash.“Our mission at Faire is to empower entrepreneurs to chase their dreams,” Rhodes wrote in a blog post this morning
“We believe entrepreneurship is a calling
Starting a business provides a level of autonomy and fulfillment that’s become difficult to find for many elsewhere in the economy
With this in mind, we built Faire to help entrepreneurs on both sides of our marketplace succeed.”