Quince raises $500M at $10.1B valuation as AI-powered retail startup surpasses $1B in revenue

Quince has secured another major vote of confidence from investors. The San Francisco online retail startup said Wednesday it raised $500 million in Series E funding, pushing its post-money valuation to $10.1 billion and cementing its place among the most valuable startups reshaping e-commerce.

The round was led by ICONIQ Capital, with participation from Basis Set Ventures and Wellington Management, according to a company statement.

The investment lands at a moment when Quince’s growth story is gaining traction across retail and venture circles. The company said its revenue surpassed $1 billion in 2025, marking a major milestone for a startup that built its brand on a simple pitch: luxury-style products without the traditional retail markup.

Founded in San Francisco, Quince sells apparel, jewelry, and home goods through a model that connects shoppers directly with manufacturers. By skipping wholesale layers and storefront distribution, the company claims it can deliver products at significantly lower prices.

Behind that model sits the technology that investors appear to be betting on. Quince says its platform uses artificial intelligence to forecast customer demand and guide production runs. Factories produce smaller batches, which the company says reduces excess inventory and waste.

The fresh capital will help Quince scale what it calls its “manufacturer-to-consumer” operating system across new markets. The company plans to use the funds to support global expansion and deepen the infrastructure behind its supply chain and product forecasting systems.

“For decades, consumers have been conditioned to equate higher prices with higher quality,” said Matt Lippert, Chief Commercial Officer at Quince. “We play in categories where quality is tangible and measurable to disprove that assumption. The model is simple: design a different system that eliminates the waste consumers have traditionally paid for in retail. That starts with real care around quality, from the materials we source all the way through how products are made, while removing excess production, unnecessary intermediaries, and inventory risk. When those inefficiencies come out of the system, people experience the benefits through more consistent quality and more accessible pricing. Over time that creates trust, and increasingly customers come to Quince first when they’re looking for something because they know what they’re going to get.”

The startup’s rise has not come without controversy. Last year, Williams-Sonoma filed a lawsuit accusing Quince of selling cheaper items that closely resemble its own home products. The dispute added a legal wrinkle to the company’s rapid ascent in the online retail market.

Even with that challenge, Quince’s momentum has continued. Investors appear to see the company as part of a new class of tech-enabled retail platforms using software and data to rework how products are made, priced, and delivered.

For Quince, the new funding provides both fuel and pressure. A $10 billion valuation puts the company in rare territory for consumer retail startups, and the next phase will test whether its model can scale globally without losing the price advantage that helped it win over shoppers in the first place.

Quince’s cashmere offerings. Courtesy of Quince