Faire, a wholesale marketplace startup that connects independent designers with local retailers, is now worth $1 billion after $150M investment

In just about three years after the San Francisco-based online marketplace Faire launched, the startup is now worth $1 billion. Thanks to $150 million Series D investment round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Founders Fund.

The Series D round, which is to be used to help retailers find and buy wholesale merchandise for their stores, now valued at $1B Valuation, brings the company’s total funding to $266 million. The valuation almost doubles the $535 million reached when Faire last raised funds in December.

“Today, we’re thrilled to announce a major milestone that will allow us to invest more in the long-term success of the Faire marketplace — and the success of our maker and retailer community. We have raised $150 million in venture capital in a Series D round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Founders Fund,” Faire CEO and co-founder Max Rhodes wrote in a blog post on Medium.

Founded in January 2017 by former Square employees Max Rhodes, Daniele Perito, Jeffrey Kolovson, and Marcelo Cortes, Faire came out of Y Combinator’s winter 2017 cohort, and went from zero to unicorn in less than three years. Faire helps retailers find and buy unique wholesale merchandise for their stores.

“The new investment will help us expand into new markets, improve our marketplace and continue building tools to free up our customers to focus on the mission that got them started in the first place,” Rhodes wrote on Medium

By simplifying the wholesale buying process, Faire helps retailers and makers spend more time doing what they love. Retailers get more than 7,000 of the best makers in the world available at their fingertips, making it easy to find the perfect goods for their community. Makers with great products can instantly access more than 50,000 stores (that’s more than double the number of Starbucks in the U.S.) where they can showcase their creativity to tens of millions of local shoppers.

Faire is on a mission to revolutionize the way retailers shop for their stores, taking all the pain out of buying for store owners. Retailers can come to Faire to find unique and exciting products from hundreds of brands. They have also created a wholesale marketplace to offer free returns.