Eddie Koai, Patrick Mandia, and I are watching Crazy Lamp Lady on someone\u2019s computer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a town hall of sorts. Crazy Lamp Lady is actually a big deal\u2014her real first name is Jocelyn, but as Crazy Lamp Lady, she has more than 800,000 followers across platforms and an online marketplace attracting thousands. She\u2019s reassuring her audience of hundreds that they shouldn\u2019t be worried about listing items that aren\u2019t ultra-rare (TJ Maxx last season can count, too) and generally talking shop. We\u2019ve dropped in on her regular \u201cstate of the union\u201d check-in for her followers on District, an AI-powered platform that helps online sellers build stores and marketplaces without technical know-how. It was founded in 2022 by former Snapchatters Koai, Mandia, and Khoi Tran.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came in with a very \u2018duh\u2019 hypothesis, which is that people actually like to buy from people who they like and from people who they trust,\u201d said Koai. \u201cIt\u2019s the same reason you buy something in a store.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
District recently raised a $14.7 million seed round, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kindred Ventures, Fortune has exclusively learned. Other investors include Greylock Partners, SV Angel, and 20VC. District also attracted an eclectic group of angels, including ex-Depop CEO Maria Raga, famed solo investor Gokul Rajaram, and former Snap executives Peter Sellis and Imran Khan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cServices like Amazon<\/a>, Facebook, and eBay<\/a> were built two to three decades ago for another era when making payment transactions or social feeds work were hard enough to get right,\u201d said Steve Jang, Kindred Ventures founder and managing partner. \u201cToday, people want to have that all happen fluidly in one easy, real-time, community-driven experience where transactions happen instantly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jang additionally points out a few simultaneously true things: the $7 trillion worldwide ecommerce market is in flux as consumer behavior ever shifts towards the instantaneous, while live shopping finally takes hold in the U.S., particularly with the rise of companies like $11.5 billion Whatnot. There\u2019s opportunity for independent sellers, but usually, those people have had to manage many different platforms at once, said Ben Smith, founder of sports card collectors community Midwest Box Breaks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I found District, I was piecing together several different platforms (a commerce site, YouTube<\/a>, Discord, Twitter<\/a>, and manual invoicing),\u201d said Smith, the startup\u2019s first customer, via email. \u201cThat disconnected workflow slowed me down and constantly confused customers\u2026 District brought everything into one place.\u201d<\/p>\n District is sort of like a Matryoshka doll of online sales platforms: To wit, the startup has brought 1,000 businesses onto its platform over the last three years, and those businesses are often marketplaces with their own universes of sellers on them. Consider Stacked Golf\u2014a golf-obsessed resale marketplace founded by a Florida couple that got their start reviewing found golf balls on YouTube\u2014which generates $150,000 in weekly sales via District, the company says. There are more than 1,000 sellers on Stacked Golf, hawking putters, irons, and golf towels. As much as anything else, these marketplaces are full-fledged subcultures.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLive [selling] is so well-suited to this because they already have that niche community,\u201d said Koai. \u201cThey have that audience, and the founder gets to bring the business to life on an intimate level\u2026 Some live sales aren\u2019t even sales. They\u2019re like \u2018we\u2019re choring together\u2019 or \u2018we\u2019re watering plants together\u2026 It\u2019s very fulfilling for us to build the economy around these subcultures.\u201d<\/p>\n To be sure, there are single-seller businesses on District, like Quentin Tarantino\u2019s New Beverly Cinema, but it does seem as though the most thriving communities are quite sprawling. Take Niknax\u2014a hub for antique, vintage, and home decor founded by \u201cCrazy Lamp Lady\u201d\u2014which in 2025 generated north of $5 million in sales across more than 5,000 sellers. Among those sellers: Mandia\u2019s grandmother, Patricia Finch, who runs her shop Poppy and Rose Jewelry. Grandma has an evocative feature request: \u201cA feature I would love to see on District would be: what inspired or a history of a listing,\u201d Finch wrote to Fortune. \u201cI believe buyers connect both to the history and passion behind each item.\u201d<\/p>\n This aligns, perhaps unsurprisingly, with her grandson\u2019s thesis: That commerce is swinging back towards something more deeply personalized and relationship-based than what we\u2019ve seen in the last few decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe early 2000s brought this wave, for marketplaces in particular, of mass centralization,\u201d said Mandia. \u201cI think people, both on the supply side and demand side, are now seeking more intimate, direct relationships as they participate in this larger ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n And online, that ecosystem can be lamps, plants, sports cards, or used golf balls.\u00a0<\/p>\n See you tomorrow,<\/p>\n Allie Garfinkle Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today\u2019s newsletter. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n VENTURE CAPITAL<\/p>\n – Blitzy<\/b><\/a>, a Cambridge, Mass.-based autonomous enterprise software development platform, raised $200 million in Series A funding. Northzone<\/b> led the round and was joined by PSG<\/b>, Battery<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, Jump<\/b> Capital<\/b>, Morgan<\/b> Creek<\/b> Digital<\/b>, Defiant<\/b>, and others.<\/p>\n – QuantWare<\/b><\/a>, a Delft, Netherlands-based industrial quantum processor company, raised $178 million in Series B funding from Intel Capital<\/b>, In-Q-Tel<\/b>, and others.\u00a0<\/p>\n – RadixArk<\/b><\/a>, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based AI infrastructure company, raised $100 million in seed funding. Accel<\/b> and Spark<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and were joined by NVentures<\/b> and others.<\/p>\n – Moment<\/b> Energy<\/b><\/a>, a Coquitlam, B.C.-based manufacturer of battery energy storage systems, raised $40 million in Series B funding. Evok<\/b> Innovations<\/b> led the round and was joined by Liberty<\/b> Mutual<\/b>.<\/p>\n – Village<\/b><\/a>, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based health system for pediatric care, raised $9.5 million in funding. Upfront<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and was joined by Bling<\/b> Capital<\/b>, GTMFund, and Perceptive<\/b> Ventures<\/b>.<\/p>\n – XCaliber<\/b> Health<\/b><\/a>, an Andover, Mass.-based agentic AI platform designed to reduce administrative burden in health care, raised $6.5 million in seed funding. ManchesterStory<\/b> led the round and was joined by Benhamou Global Ventures<\/b> and Arka Venture Labs<\/b>.<\/p>\n – Davis<\/b><\/a>, a Paris, France-based AI-powered early-stage real estate development and architectural design platform, raised $5.5 million in pre-seed funding. Heartcore<\/b> Capital<\/b> and Balderton<\/b> Capital<\/b> led the round and were joined by Yellow<\/b>, Evantic<\/b>, Entrepreneurs<\/b> First<\/b>, and angel investors.<\/p>\n – Jurisphere<\/b><\/a>, a Mumbai, India-based legal AI platform, raised $2.2 million in seed funding from InfoEdge<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, Flourish<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, Antler<\/b>, and 8i Ventures<\/b>.<\/p>\n PRIVATE EQUITY<\/p>\n – KKR<\/b> acquired Arctos<\/b><\/a>, a Dallas, Texas-based institutional investor in professional sports franchises, for $1.4 billion, as well as up to $550 million in future equity based on KKR’s share price and certain performance targets.<\/p>\n – Bregal<\/b> Milestone<\/b> acquired a majority stake in meteoviva<\/b><\/a>, an Aachen, Germany-based AI-powered predictive building energy management company. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n – Liberty<\/b> Waste<\/b> Solutions<\/b>, backed by Allied<\/b> Industrial<\/b> Partners<\/b>, acquired Randolph County<\/b> Garbage<\/b> Services<\/b><\/a>, an Asheboro, N.C.-based garbage services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n – Miller<\/b> Environmental<\/b> Group<\/b>, a portfolio company of Coalesce<\/b> Capital<\/b>, acquired Central<\/b> Ohio Oil<\/b><\/a>, a Columbus, Ohio-based environmental services company. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n – Platinum<\/b> Equity<\/b> acquired Infratech<\/b><\/a>, a Gardena, Calif.-based infrared electric heating solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0– Promera<\/b>, a portfolio company of Angeles<\/b> Equity<\/b> Partners<\/b>, acquired Data Clean Asia<\/b><\/a>, a Singapore-based technical data services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed. <\/p>\n EXITS<\/p>\n – Bullish<\/b> agreed to acquire Equiniti<\/b><\/a>, a New York City-based transfer agent, from Siris<\/b> for $4.3 billion.<\/p>\n – Columna<\/b> Capital<\/b> agreed to acquire a majority stake in Evidenze<\/b> Group<\/b><\/a>, a Madrid, Spain-based outsourced pharma services platform, from Buenavista<\/b> Equity<\/b> Partners<\/b>. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n – CRH<\/b> agreed to acquire Axius Water<\/b><\/a>, a Pocasset, Mass.-based water quality company, from KKR<\/b>. Financial terms were not disclosed.\u00a0<\/p>\n – Lattice<\/b> Semiconductor<\/b> agreed to acquire AMI<\/b><\/a>, a Duluth, Ga.-based developer of platform firmware and infrastructure manageability for cloud and AI, from THL<\/b> Partners<\/b>. Financial terms were not disclosed. <\/p>\n OTHERS<\/p>\n – IREN<\/b> agreed to acquire Mirantis<\/b><\/a>, a Campbell, Calif.-based cloud infrastructure and enterprise support services provider, for $625 million.<\/p>\n FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS<\/p>\n – Twin<\/b> Bridge<\/b> Capital<\/b> Partners<\/b><\/a>, a Chicago, Ill.-based private equity firm, raised $855 million for its sixth fund focused on lower middle market buyout funds.<\/p>\n PEOPLE<\/p>\n
X:<\/strong> @agarfinks<\/a>
Email:<\/strong> alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n