Whatnot acquires AI startup Shaped to accelerate live shopping recommendations and discovery

Whatnot acquires Madrona-backed AI startup Shaped to boost live shopping recommendations

Live-shopping unicorn Whatnot is expanding its AI capabilities with the acquisition of Shaped, a startup that builds real-time recommendation and search technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Shaped founder and CEO Tullie Murrell will join Whatnot to lead a new applied AI research team focused on improving how buyers discover live streams, sellers and products across the marketplace. Before co-founding Shaped in 2021, Murrell worked on machine learning and recommendation systems at Meta. Backed by Seattle venture firm Madrona, Shaped developed AI technology designed to deliver highly personalized recommendations in real time -- a key capability for Whatnot's fast-moving live shopping platform, where inventory and buyer interest change by the second. The acquisition comes as Whatnot continues to invest heavily in engineering and AI. Last year, the company announced plans to significantly expand its Seattle engineering hub after leasing new downtown office space following a $225 million funding round that valued the company at $11.5 billion. The company has said Seattle will serve as one of its key engineering centers as it continues to scale its platform. For Madrona, the deal represents another exit for a portfolio company applying AI to solve core business problems, reinforcing the firm's continued focus on infrastructure and enterprise AI startups.

Whatnot Bets on AI Discovery With Acquisition of Shaped

Livestream shopping platform Whatnot has acquired Shaped, a machine learning startup that specializes in AI-powered search and recommendation technology for fast-moving marketplaces. Benzinga contacted Whatnot for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Emmanuel Fuentes, Whatnot's vice president of data and AI, told TechCrunch that the company has spent years reducing delays in its recommendation engine, cutting the time needed to update suggestions from roughly a day to just minutes. Shaped's technology is expected to help accelerate that process further. Founded to help companies build AI-powered search and recommendation products, Shaped combines customer data, large language models, and machine learning techniques to deliver more personalized results. The startup's customers have included companies such as Outdoorsy and QVC. As part of the acquisition, Shaped founder and CEO Tullie Murrell will join Whatnot along with nearly a dozen engineers and AI researchers. Murrell will lead a newly created applied AI research group at Whatnot after previously working at Meta. The acquisition comes as Whatnot continues to expand rapidly since launching in 2019. The company said sellers on its platform have surpassed 1 billion orders, while its buyer base grew by 20 million users over the past year. Last year, Whatnot raised $225 million in Series F funding at a valuation above $11 billion. The company has also been broadening its marketplace beyond its original focus on collectibles. Whatnot said it added more than 35 categories last year and another 45-plus categories in the first half of 2026, with new subcategories continuing to roll out. The Shaped acquisition highlights a growing push among commerce platforms to use AI as competition intensifies around product discovery. Major resale and marketplace companies, including eBay and Poshmark, have also been investing in AI tools designed to improve search. Photo by amesteohart via Shutterstock This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.