Whatnot, the leading livestream shopping app, has announced a significant acquisition that is poised to revolutionize the way users discover and purchase products in real-time. The company has acquired Shaped, a machine learning company specializing in real-time recommendation and search systems, to further enhance its discovery and personalization capabilities.
According to Whatnot, the acquisition is a strategic move to strengthen its AI capabilities and tackle one of the biggest challenges in live commerce: helping shoppers find the right products while inventory, auctions, and buyer demand change in real-time. Unlike traditional e-commerce platforms, where product catalogs remain relatively stable, Whatnot’s marketplace is constantly evolving, with live auctions that can end within minutes or last for hours.
The company has spent the last six years improving the speed of its recommendation engine, reducing recommendation latency from roughly a day to just minutes. Integrating Shaped’s technology is expected to push those recommendations even closer to real-time, making them faster, more responsive, and more personalized. Emmanuel Fuentes, VP of Data and AI at Whatnot, explained that speed matters in live commerce, as inventory changes by the second, shows start and end continuously, and buyer intent shifts throughout a show.
Founded to help businesses build AI-powered recommendation systems, Shaped developed technology that combines existing customer data with large language models and machine learning to deliver highly personalized search and discovery experiences. Its customer roster included companies such as Outdoorsy and QVC. As part of the acquisition, Shaped founder and CEO Tullie Murrell, along with nearly a dozen engineers and AI researchers, will join Whatnot. Murrell will lead the company’s newly formed Applied AI Research group.
The acquisition comes as Whatnot experiences significant growth. Launched in 2019, the company has recently revealed that sellers have surpassed 1 billion orders. Last year, Whatnot raised $225 million in Series F funding, giving the company a valuation of more than $11 billion after adding 20 million buyers over the past year. Whatnot has also significantly broadened its marketplace, launching more than 35 new categories last year, including art, golf, and vinyl, and more than 45 additional categories during the first half of 2026, with new subcategories continuing to roll out each month.
This move is also reflective of the growing trend in the e-commerce industry, where resale giants are racing to integrate AI throughout their platforms. eBay and Poshmark are among the companies that have been actively incorporating AI to enhance user experiences and drive sales. Whatnot’s acquisition of Shaped is a testament to the company’s commitment to innovation and its goal of providing users with the most seamless and personalized shopping experience possible.
The acquisition of Shaped is expected to have a significant impact on Whatnot’s business, allowing the company to further enhance its recommendation engine and provide users with more accurate and personalized product suggestions. With the integration of Shaped’s technology, Whatnot is poised to become a leader in the live commerce space, offering users a unique and engaging shopping experience that is tailored to their individual needs and preferences.
The acquisition of Shaped is a significant milestone for Whatnot, marking a major step forward in the company’s mission to revolutionize the way people shop. By combining Shaped’s cutting-edge technology with its existing systems, Whatnot is poised to take the live commerce industry by storm, offering users a more personalized and engaging shopping experience that is unlike anything else in the market.
