Faire, a platform that allows independent retailers to find new products from niche creators, landed a $170 million Series E funding round at a $2.5 billion valuation—more than double its value a year ago.

WHO: Faire was launched in January 2017 as Indigo Fair, when co-founder and CTO Marcelo Cortes, CEO Max Rhodes, CIO Daniele Perito, and COO Jeff Kolovson met while working at mobile-payments company Square. Faire now represents more retail locations by door count in North America than Starbucks, Walgreens, Sephora, Target, Nordstrom, and Walmart combined.

WHY: Faire plans to use the new funding to expand to the United Kingdom next year with additional European markets to follow, to expand its customer base, and to hire more staff.

DETAILS:

• Faire landed a $170 million Series E funding led by Sequoia Capital. with participation from existing investors Y Combinator, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Forerunner Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Founders Fund. New participants in this round included DST Global, D1 Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Dragoneer.
• According to a report from Forbes, the deal more than doubled Faire’s valuation to $2.5 billion.
• Over the past year, Faire has more than tripled its business and grown its customer base to more than 100,000 independent retailers and over 10,000 brands on the platform.
• In 2017 Faire participated in the Y Combinator (YC) accelerator program.