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Connie Chan is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that…
Articles by Connie
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When One App Rules Them All: The Case of WeChat and Mobile in China
When One App Rules Them All: The Case of WeChat and Mobile in China
This post is all about WeChat, but it’s also about more than just WeChat. While seemingly just a messaging app, WeChat…
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Connie Chan reposted thisConnie Chan reposted thisExcited to share that Whatnot has raised our Series G. When we started Whatnot, it was hard to imagine just how many incredible businesses would eventually be built on the platform. Today, so many people have turned their passions into meaningful businesses — growing teams, creating jobs, reaching new customers, and in many cases helping brick-and-mortar stores not just stay open, but thrive. That’s still the part of Whatnot that gets me most excited. We have a huge amount left to build, and this new funding gives us even more ability to invest in our product, expand into new categories and markets, and continue making Whatnot the best place in the world to turn a passion into a business. Really grateful to the entire Whatnot team for the work that got us here, and to both our new and existing investors for continuing to believe in what we’re building. Still a lot more to come. https://lnkd.in/gAjYgdpjIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | FortuneIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | Fortune
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Connie Chan shared thisCongratulations to Whatnot!!! 👏 Whatnot is an ecosystem dedicated to helping small business grow. And in a world of passive scrolling, they've shown that Liveshopping brings back the thrill of live, fun of discovery, and joy of being with other people, all online. You can enter new worlds and stores on Whatnot, buy fresh fish from a boat, hunt bargains from estate sales, and find all kinds of friends. Congratulations on their $545M Series G funding!!Connie Chan shared thisToday we're announcing $545 million in Series G funding, the largest raise live commerce has seen so far. When we first tried to raise money for Whatnot, I kept a spreadsheet of every investor who said no. I stopped adding to it at a hundred names. What kept us going was watching a few small sellers make more in a couple of hours than they could anywhere else. Small businesses went live before any of this was a sure thing, and they're the reason it worked. They're still who we build for. In the past year, sellers passing a million dollars in lifetime sales more than doubled, and full-time sellers grew 25%. This round goes straight back into their businesses and the trust that brings buyers to their shows. Thanks for getting us here. Lots left to build. https://lnkd.in/g-3G97fBIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | FortuneIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | Fortune
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Connie Chan reposted thisConnie Chan reposted thisOur sellers just hit one billion orders. When we launched in 2019 as a Funko Pop marketplace, most people had never heard of live shopping. Less than seven years later, we've grown from a single category into hundreds, and reached one billion orders. Every one of those orders started the same way: a seller going live around something they love, and a buyer choosing to show up. @theghqcrew, a golf seller in West Texas, said it best: "Whatnot validated that a small golf shop could build a national community, create jobs, and thrive by serving people well." Thank you to everyone who's been part of the first billion. It’s just the beginning. https://lnkd.in/gxaYcCg4 #LiveShoppingWhatnot is worth $11.5 billion—and its sellers just hit one billion orders | FortuneWhatnot is worth $11.5 billion—and its sellers just hit one billion orders | Fortune
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Connie Chan reposted thisConnie Chan reposted thisForbes just named Whatnot the #1 Best Startup Employer in America for 2026. The ranking evaluates thousands of companies across employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and growth. In other words, it's shaped by the people who work here, and how they feel about the work they're doing. Over six years ago, we set out to build the best place for people to turn their passions into real businesses and build real community through commerce. Last year, we powered more than $8B in live sales. We now span hundreds of categories across three continents, and hundreds of thousands of sellers build their livelihoods on Whatnot every day. What makes Whatnot a great place to work is the same thing that makes it a great platform: we're community-first, we move fast, and everyone here owns something that directly impacts the livelihoods of the sellers and buyers we serve. If that's the kind of work you want to do, we're hiring across engineering, sales, product, data, marketing, trust & safety, and more: careers.whatnot.com https://lnkd.in/dGSX3ahr #Hiring #LiveShopping #SocialCommerceForbes 2026 America's Best Startup Employers - Ranked ListForbes 2026 America's Best Startup Employers - Ranked List
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Connie Chan shared thisThrilled to celebrate Whatnot’s Series F led by CapitalG, DST Global and Sequoia Capital! 🎉 This achievement reflects the dedication of the incredible Whatnot team (especially founders Grant LaFontaine and Logan Head), the trust of the community, and the support of investors who believe in the power of live marketplaces and shopping from real people, not just brands. From day one, the mission has been to empower creators and collectors everywhere — and this milestone only strengthens that mission. Liveshopping is just getting started in the US, and new categories are discovering its power: it’s more fun, drives discovery, and accelerates sales like nothing else. Truly excited for what’s ahead. Join here: https://lnkd.in/gkk7x7ST And if you haven't tried the app yet, pls give it a download and check out the future of commerce 🚀 https://lnkd.in/gjtZhJ38Whatnot Raises $225 Million as Investors Bet on Livestream ShoppingWhatnot Raises $225 Million as Investors Bet on Livestream Shopping
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Connie Chan reposted thisConnie Chan reposted thisOne Billion Rides! In the first all hands meeting when we started Lime, I shared the first goal with the company - 1 Billion Rides (with the emphasize that it’s not $1B valuation), as 1 Billion rides not just validates how much users love Lime, but a milestone solidifies that we’ve generated a global movement towards cleaner urban mobility. 1 Billion Rides to a start up at that time was a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, seemingly impossible. But with the great execution and withered vision, we achieved it as of today! It’s just 8 years (or 5 years if we take out the 3 years of pandemic) . Thank you and Kudos to the Lime team! 1 Billion Rides is just the first crank, a lot more to do to fully realize the Lime vision. Let’s keep unlocking life!
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Connie Chan shared thisEver use a metal detector on a beach? When you're searching for massive metal deposits 1,000+ meters below, you need a much smarter, better metal detector. 😁 New podcast episode on AI and mining/natural resources. Hear my convo with Kobold Zambia's CEO Mfikeyi Makayi, Kobold's VP of Technology Tom Hunt, and Kobold's VP of Geosciences George Gilchrist on how software is supercharging our ability to find the critical metals of tomorrow. https://lnkd.in/grfCU2Qh
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Connie Chan reposted thisConnie Chan reposted this🚨 invite for anyone working with creators 🚨 we’re doing something for the first time… connecting brands and marketers with the best creators from Beacons - we now have over 5 million creators on the platform! we’re partnering with brands and agencies who want to work with creators to promote their events and campaigns. we’ll help you 🔍 find ✅ verify 📧 contact 🤝 & connect with the right creators to drive awareness for your project. our team will run everything from sourcing and discovery to outreach—just let us know what your goals and requirements are, and we’ll take it from there. (btw, this is free. seriously, no catch.) comment your email down below if you want to learn more, or tag someone else who might be interested too!
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Connie Chan reposted thisGood Luck Muzala! Bring home the gold for Zambia.Connie Chan reposted thisKoBold is proud to support Muzala Samukonga and #TeamZambia #Paris2024!!!
Connie Chan commented on a post
4mo
Congrats Peter!!!
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Connie Chan reacted on thisConnie Chan reacted on thisExcited to share that Whatnot has raised our Series G. When we started Whatnot, it was hard to imagine just how many incredible businesses would eventually be built on the platform. Today, so many people have turned their passions into meaningful businesses — growing teams, creating jobs, reaching new customers, and in many cases helping brick-and-mortar stores not just stay open, but thrive. That’s still the part of Whatnot that gets me most excited. We have a huge amount left to build, and this new funding gives us even more ability to invest in our product, expand into new categories and markets, and continue making Whatnot the best place in the world to turn a passion into a business. Really grateful to the entire Whatnot team for the work that got us here, and to both our new and existing investors for continuing to believe in what we’re building. Still a lot more to come. https://lnkd.in/gAjYgdpjIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | FortuneIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | Fortune
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Connie Chan reacted on thisConnie Chan reacted on thisToday we're announcing $545 million in Series G funding, the largest raise live commerce has seen so far. When we first tried to raise money for Whatnot, I kept a spreadsheet of every investor who said no. I stopped adding to it at a hundred names. What kept us going was watching a few small sellers make more in a couple of hours than they could anywhere else. Small businesses went live before any of this was a sure thing, and they're the reason it worked. They're still who we build for. In the past year, sellers passing a million dollars in lifetime sales more than doubled, and full-time sellers grew 25%. This round goes straight back into their businesses and the trust that brings buyers to their shows. Thanks for getting us here. Lots left to build. https://lnkd.in/g-3G97fBIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | FortuneIn AI-obsessed Silicon Valley, live commerce platform Whatnot just notched a new funding round valuing it at $20 billion | Fortune
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Connie Chan reacted on thisConnie Chan reacted on thisHigh up over New York City from J.P. Morgan’s spectacular new global headquarters, it is impossible not to feel a profound sense of pride and gratitude. Today marks the beginning of my final week at the firm, the culmination of 21 remarkable, unforgettable years. Looking out from this breathtaking vantage point feels deeply symbolic. It is a vista that matches the sheer scale, ambition, and world-class reputation of the institution I have been so privileged to call home for over two decades. More than the towering architecture, what truly defines J.P. Morgan is its people. To the extraordinary colleagues, clients, and lifelong friends with whom I have shared this path: thank you. Your steadfast partnership and support have been the greatest gifts of my career. As I 'graduate' from my executive responsibilities to focus fully on boards and advisory work, I find myself reflecting on what it means to guide world-class brands. Whether it is mastering the precision of finance, navigating the high-performance track with adidas, or championing the absolute pinnacle of craftsmanship with Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the core pursuit remains the same: an unyielding dedication to excellence. I am honored to bring the strategic lessons of the past 21 years into the boardrooms of these exceptional enterprises, including KKR’s Wella Company and SWAROVSKI , as we navigate the complex global markets ahead. I look forward to staying closely connected and finding new ways to collaborate in this next chapter. Thank you, J.P. Morgan, for the journey of a lifetime.
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Connie Chan reacted on thisConnie Chan reacted on thisSafe births, closer to home! Mingomba is proud to have supported Kakoso Level 1 Hospital with a new maternity annex, expanding delivery capacity and strengthening neonatal care for mothers and babies in Chililabombwe. By bringing maternal care closer to the communities, this investment will help reduce referrals and support safer outcomes for families.
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Connie Chan liked thisConnie Chan liked thisWhat if shopping didn't have to feel so transactional? That was the question at the center of Grant LaFontaine's conversation at Fortune Brainstorm Tech this week. His take: e-commerce got efficient and lost the human part along the way. Live commerce puts it back. You see who you're buying from, ask questions in the moment, and feel part of a community instead of clicking through a checkout flow. That's the whole point of live. Thanks to Fortune for having us. #FortuneBrainstormTech
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Connie Chan reacted on thisConnie Chan reacted on thisSix years ago, Grant LaFontaine and Logan Head rented a house in Phoenix, locked themselves in to build live video infrastructure from scratch, and sold $5,000 worth of Funko Pops on Whatnot's first show. Fast forward to last year: sellers on Whatnot generated over $8B in live sales, and Whatnot now holds nearly 60% of the live shopping market in the West. Jennifer Conrad at Inc. Magazine talked to our founders, sellers like Wild Ginger Vintage and Pursuit Farms, investors, and analysts for this profile on how Whatnot made live shopping finally click in the West and where it goes from here. A few things from the piece that we think about a lot: you can't fake community, the next decade of commerce will be built on real human connection rather than algorithms, and dogfooding the product (every employee goes live once a quarter, answers customer service requests, gets a monthly buying budget) leads to better decisions. From Grant LaFontaine: "If your culture recedes, you end up doing things like every other company, and you're not going to be, by definition, an exceptional company." https://lnkd.in/gwnK_nCF #LiveShoppingHow Whatnot Built a Billion-Dollar Livestream Commerce KingdomHow Whatnot Built a Billion-Dollar Livestream Commerce Kingdom
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English
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Chinese
Professional working proficiency
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Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum
Class of 2015
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HYSTA (Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association)
Board Member
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Hugo Fdez.-Mardomingo
🦄 $150M to improve tutoring and education globally. Preply just announced a new round, putting the company on a clear trajectory to become an iconic global marketplace. In a world obsessed with fast wins and volatile growth, some companies quietly beat their goals year after year — for more than 6 years in this case (as long as we’ve at Acurio Ventures been partners). A few learnings from this journey, relevant for founders and investors: Pick a growing market with an unsolved problem. 2 out of 8 billion people globally are learning a second language. Despite many options, outcomes are still poor. Our original thesis was simple: if you build the reference platform, everyone who wants to learn will eventually come to you. Category leadership matters. When we backed Kirill Bigai and Dmytro Voloshyn back in 2019 (together with Rob Kniaz), there were dozens of similar startups. Small details showed Preply had already built a superior tutor base and a scalable growth engine. Build a product customers love. Speaking a language and teaching it are very different things. Preply transformed the learning experience by combining a motivated base of +100,000 tutors with tools that actually drive outcomes. Never stop experimenting. Few companies maintain a strong experimentation culture as they scale. Preply’s DNA reminded me of Booking.com — enabling them to execute 10x better than most marketplaces. Great companies turn every change into an opportunity. From riding the post-COVID shift to online learning, to betting early and heavily on AI as Dmytro Voloshyn has excelled at. What once sounded like sci-fi is now reality. Great companies become talent magnets A company maturity can't be addressed only by looking at the revenue, profit or product. I like to see how much better they become at attracting talent and retaining it. Proud that Acurio Ventures made this possible and the WestCap team saw things as bullish as we do and are now supporting the next phase of Preply’s journey. Huge congratulations to the entire Preply team!!
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Jeff Immelt
Dayna Grayson is a leading VC who has “sat in every chair” at a young age. She founded Construct Capital with Rachel Holt, an early leader at Uber. Together, they are tackling the digitization of industry. Dayna will discuss macro trends, what it takes to be a founder, and the potential for AI. She is one of the few who have successfully blended a career of operations and investing. Check out our discussion at: https://lnkd.in/eYBUGjbW #leadershipdevelopment
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