Last year we reported that Canadian startup Faire was worth a whopping $7 billion. Oh, how quickly times change!
Faire has since raised more than US$400 million in an extension of its Series G round. The massive move doubles the size of the company’s original Series G funding and brings total funding to the company at well over $1 billion—now valuing Faire at nearly $13 billion.
Faire, an online wholesale marketplace connecting more 300,000 retailers with 40,000 brands around the world, was created by four entrepreneurs hailing from mobile payments pioneer Square. Max Rhodes, Marcelo Cortes, Daniele Perito and Jeff Kolovson launched their company in 2017. Faire is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Kitchener-Waterloo to draw from two distinct and deep pools of tech talent.
Over the last year, due to tremendous sales success, Faire’s team has doubled in size to 700. The rapidly growing company affirms that some of its latest capital influx is earmarked “to continue to hire top talent.”
Faire is “enabling seamless cross-border trade and solving the most pressing wholesale challenges brands and retailers face,” according to a company statement, “connecting entrepreneurs around the globe in ways that were previously impossible or prohibitively expensive.” As a result, Faire has reported 3x year-on-year growth, reaching more than $1 billion in annual volume in less than five years.
“Faire’s visionary leadership team is building a business that is truly in balance with all of its stakeholders, allowing emerging brands and independent retailers to do what they do best: create and sell products,” said Anouk Dey, partner of Durable Capital Partners. “With their continued investment … we believe that Faire will transform the global wholesale market.”
Faire notes that there are more than two million independent retailers across North America and Europe doing $2.5 trillion in revenue, which is twice that of Walmart and Amazon combined.
“With our global reach, Faire is providing an even greater opportunity for the independent retail community to compete against big-box giants,” said Rhodes, CEO. “By removing the traditional growth hurdles our customers face, we have enabled more opportunities, more connections, and more possibilities for the entrepreneurs who use the platform.”
“Our ability to deliver local and cross-border demand to brands, and in turn offer retailers access to a more expansive, data-driven selection is how Faire will define the future of retail,” Rhodes added.
