Whop is a New York-based startup that operates an online marketplace for buying and selling digital products – such as software tools, online courses, and community memberships – enabling creators and entrepreneurs to monetize their skills and audiences. The company was founded in 2021 by childhood friends Steven Schwartz, Cameron Zoub, and Jack Sharkey, who initially met online as teenagers trading limited-edition sneakers.

They first built a makeshift software marketplace, but it was quickly overrun by scammers and required cumbersome forum-mediated transactions. In response, the trio pivoted to create Whop as a more secure, managed platform with clearer pricing and vetting of products before listing. Whop officially launched its marketplace in 2021, aiming to provide a “storefront for the internet economy” where sellers could easily accept payments, deliver digital goods, and reach new customers via Whop’s built-in discovery features.

Whop differentiates itself from traditional creator monetization tools by combining storefront infrastructure with a centralized marketplace. Unlike standalone e-commerce plugins or platforms like Gumroad, Whop offers a network-effect model similar to Amazon’s marketplace, where each new seller and product can attract more buyers, and vice versa. Sellers on Whop get a suite of tools including analytics dashboards, customer management, and community features (e.g. chat rooms, forums, content gating) to build and manage their offerings in one place. For buyers, Whop provides personalized discovery, reviews, and recommendations to help find relevant digital products.

Products sold range from productivity software and design assets to trading tips, gaming add-ons, and niche membership clubs – even controversial areas like sports betting picks or crypto trading signals have gained traction. Whop asserts that it vets sellers and emphasizes authentic user reviews to maintain trust and reduce fraud risks on the marketplace.

Whop’s business model is transaction-based. It takes a 3% fee from direct purchases (plus payment processing) and charges around 4.5% + $0.40 when acting as the merchant-of-record to handle taxes. If a sale is generated through Whop’s own discovery tools (bringing a new customer to a seller), it takes a larger 30% commission – effectively acting as a referral platform. This model aligns Whop’s revenue with its sellers’ success, while encouraging the company to drive demand for creators on the platform.

By mid-2023, Whop had facilitated over $100 million in transactions across roughly 3,000 sellers and one million users. By early 2024, that figure had grown to $263 million in GMV, with over five million memberships sold across nearly 10,000 digital products. In July 2023, the company raised a $17 million Series A led by Insight Partners, with participation from Peter Thiel, Kevin O’Leary, and The Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC. In July 2024, it followed up with a $50 million+ Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures, valuing the company at approximately $800 million.

By 2025, Whop had expanded to around 70 employees in its Brooklyn headquarters and launched a major product refresh dubbed “Whop 4.0.” The company claimed it was enabling over $1 billion in annualized earnings for creators, having helped over 100 sellers become millionaires. With a stronghold in the creator economy, Whop continues to position itself as a leading marketplace for digital entrepreneurship, empowering individuals to build profitable online businesses at scale.