Platform facilitates more than $4.5 billion in annual merchandise purchases
Wholesale marketplace startup Faire is preparing for an initial public offering within the next 12 months, Chief Financial Officer Jason Lee said, as the company pushes into international markets and new revenue streams ahead of a public listing.
The San Francisco company is on pace for an annualized revenue run rate of more than $730 million in the third quarter, up 45% year over year, and expects to break even on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the fourth quarter, Lee said in an interview.
Founded in 2017 by co-founder and Chief Executive Max Rhodes, Faire built an online platform that allows retailers such as bookstores, boutiques and grocery stores to order merchandise from emerging and established brands. The company, which had a valuation of $5.2 billion last November, says hundreds of thousands of retailers use its platform, which matches buyers to products based on years of sell-through data.
“All of the innovation in retail has really been focused on the consumer,” Rhodes said in an interview. “No one had really been focused on how to connect brands to retailers.”
Rhodes said the wholesale industry has not changed for more than a century, with local stores still largely sourcing inventory by traveling to trade shows and calling up sales representatives. Faire’s scale lets the platform negotiate lower prices and better payment terms to help smaller retailers compete with national chains.
The company generates the bulk of its revenue by charging a commission and payment-processing fee on orders. Products on the platform span decor, food, beauty, jewelry and apparel from brands such as Boll & Branch and Penguin Random House.
Ahead of an IPO, Faire is leaning further into its international footprint, which already includes Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The company launched advertising in 2024 — a business that now accounts for about 9% of its topline — letting brands promote their listings on the platform.
Faire also plans to own a warehouse to store and ship brands’ products. The company expects the approach could bring down customers’ shipping costs by about 80% and roughly double their profit margins.
“We look for opportunities where we can use our scale and our data and our technology to help these retailers compete in ways that they’ve never been able to before,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said his longer-term vision is for Faire to become the place where every retailer does the vast majority of their buying. He said he hopes the platform will revitalize main streets, including in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma.
“My vision is a decade from now, you walk down downtown Norman, Okla., and every storefront is open because Faire has made it so easy for these retailers to open up shops and to succeed,” he said.