Whop, a US technology company whose platform allows people to start and run businesses online, has raised $200mn in a Series D funding round at a $5.1bn valuation, led by Sequoia Capital and Shopify Ventures. The company announced the round on Wednesday.
It is Whop’s second raise of 2026. In February, Tether made a $200mn strategic investment at a $1.6bn valuation. The company said the new capital will accelerate its global expansion and fund research and development aimed at making payment and advertising markets radically more efficient.
Whop provides business operators with a gamified interface and an API covering distribution, business creation and money. The company says around 25,000 business operators generate $550mn on the platform each month, that more than 50,000 other people earn a monthly income by providing services to those businesses, and that it facilitates more than $7bn in on-platform transactions for people in 185 countries.
“We take inspiration from the traditional economy in designing Whop, and because businesses are the primary conduit by which people earn money and create value, we focus on them as our primary customer,” said Steven Schwartz, co-founder and chief executive.
Most businesses on the platform serve specific customer needs rather than mass markets, the company said, citing invoicing software for haulage firms, emergency tree removal services, private jet booking platforms, neobanks for dropshippers and data suppliers for humanoid robotics companies.
Bloomberg, which first reported the deal, said Doug Leone, a partner at Sequoia Capital, is joining Whop’s board. “They’re doing about a half billion revenue, business is doing great, and we’re helping humanity create businesses for people who can’t find a job,” Leone said in the announcement.
Bloomberg also reported that the company recently passed $400mn in annualised run-rate revenue, up from $60mn at the start of 2025, that it currently employs 110 people, and that it plans to open offices in Colombia and in Europe. Earlier investors include Peter Thiel, A*, Insight Partners and Bain Capital Ventures.
In the past three months Whop has launched Business Blueprints, which lets a new operator launch a ready-to-sell business in a few clicks and has been used to create more than 21,000 businesses in six weeks; the Whop CLI, which makes the company’s API compatible with any AI agent and, together with its MCP connectors, receives more than 350,000 calls a day from more than 14,700 monthly active users; and Economic Intelligence, a decision engine trained on millions of transactions that recommends the highest-ROI next move for each business.
Founded in 2021, Whop is based in Palo Alto, California, has a second office in New York and is recruiting in engineering, product, sales and operations.
Leave a Comment