Live Video Marketplace ShopThing Raises $10 Million in Series A

ShopThing is bringing together the best of in-person and online shopping. The Toronto-based app provides a live shopping marketplace where ShopThing’s network of shoppers browse, try on, review and post different brands and products in real time. Users viewing the live-streams communicate to the shoppers to purchase the luxury and boutique items in-store. Once the customer makes a purchase, ShopThing fulfills the order and ships the product to the customer for a 20% fee. 

Livestream shopping has been gaining popularity in Asia since the COVID-19 pandemic.  “Live shopping is absolutely what’s next for e-commerce, but we fundamentally believe that it will look different in the West,” said CEO and co-founder Maggie Adhami-Boynton. 

In its first round of institutional funding, ShopThing raised $10 million in Series A round led by Origin Ventures. The new funding will predominantly go towards adding more shoppers to the platform and expanding to new markets. ShopThing currently has over 500,000 users across North America and has shoppers in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, New York City, Miami, Los Angeles and Texas with plans to expand internationally in the next 12 months.  

“We’re currently in about seven or eight markets and we want to be in 12 to 15 markets by the end of the year and increase our shopper team by about five times,” Adhami-Boynton said. “In terms of the future, we’re going to launch a membership program that will give our customers exclusive access to benefits and perks.”