General Catalyst Returns to Lead Raise, Brandless Co-founder Tina Sharkey Joins Board of Directors
Heyday, a platform pioneering a marketplace-native approach to eCommerce brand building, announced today it closed on $70M of Series B equity financing, less than six months after announcing its $175M Series A funding. General Catalyst returned to lead the round, tripling its original investment, with additional financing from existing investors including Khosla Ventures and Arbor Ventures, as well as Heyday’s entrepreneur partners. Combining technology, data and capital, Heyday accelerates digital brands for today’s consumers.
Heyday’s marketplace-native approach reflects consumers’ shifting preferences toward convenience, selection and value that digital marketplaces like Amazon are in the best position to deliver and is in stark contrast to the conventional direct-to-consumer (DTC) mantra that marked the last decade of eCommerce brand building. By voting with their wallets, consumers drove sales through digital marketplaces to a 62% share of the $4.3 trillion eCommerce market in 2020.
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Since emerging from stealth in November 2020, Heyday has scaled rapidly, crossing $100M in revenue, growing its global team to over 100 employees and expanding into over a dozen international markets. While many of the major players in the marketplace ecosystem are in an arms race of product aggregation, Heyday has taken a different approach focusing its resources on brand acceleration. Heyday forms innovative partnerships with eCommerce entrepreneurs, spanning growth capital to full acquisitions. Once a part of the Heyday platform, brands are tapped into marketplace-native technology, data and operational capabilities designed to produce exponential growth, and can participate in the success of the platform through Heyday’s entrepreneur equity-sharing program.
“Amazon developed the world’s largest entrepreneur-creation machine, with 50% of its sales made by entrepreneurs who are building brands that delight consumers every day. Our mission is to help those eCommerce entrepreneurs reach new heights,” said Sebastian Rymarz, Heyday co-founder and CEO. “A digital brand is worth more inside of Heyday than outside of Heyday.”
Heyday has also brought on new leadership talent to support its exponential growth over the last six months, adding experienced operators in Head of Technology Tapan Shah (Coupang, Amazon), Head of Operations Karan Gandhi (Boxed, Amazon), Head of Creative Ted Tsandes (Skullcandy) and Head of Legal Megan Agnew (Conagra, Latham & Watkins). Heyday has also appointed eCommerce innovator Tina Sharkey, co-founder of Brandless and Board Member of PBS and Havenly, to the Board of Directors to shape the trajectory of Heyday and provide strategic counsel, global brand and product innovation experience to support the company’s rapid scale.
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Having led this round of funding, General Catalyst partner Mark Crane will also be joining the board. “Heyday has scaled rapidly since emerging from stealth, and stands out in a competitive, fast-growing space with its bold, brand-first approach and its focus on technology and data as differentiators to building an enduring company,” said Mark Crane, partner at General Catalyst. “We look forward to supporting Heyday’s continued growth in the marketplace ecosystem.”
