FAIRE

Max Rhodes was at Square when he noticed that small retailers had been underserved by technology for decades. Walk into any independent boutique, gift shop, or bookstore and ask the owner how they find new products to sell.

The answer is almost always: trade shows twice a year, word of mouth, and salespeople who cold-call. The wholesale buying process was analog, inefficient, and biased toward brands big enough to afford trade show booths and sales teams.

Rhodes teamed up with three Square colleagues — Marcelo Cortes, Daniele Perito, and Jeff Kolovson — to build Faire in 2017. The initial insight was powerful: use data from point-of-sale systems to predict which products would sell well in which stores, then connect those stores directly with the right brands.

They launched with a bold offer: free returns on first orders, net-60 payment terms, and zero upfront risk for retailers. The pitch to retailers was "try products for free, only pay for what sells." Brands got access to thousands of stores they could never reach on their own.

B2B wholesale marketplace — Faire connects brands (sellers) with independent retailers (buyers). Faire earns commission on every wholesale order, typically 15-25% from the brand side.

The platform also earns from Faire Direct (where existing brand-retailer relationships are processed through Faire for payments and logistics) and from financing products. The key financial innovation is that Faire takes the risk on net-60 payment terms — they pay brands quickly and extend credit to retailers, earning the spread.

Machine learning powers product recommendations, predicting which products will sell well in specific types of stores based on location, category, and purchase history.

Faire marketplace — browse thousands of wholesale brands across categories including home goods, beauty, food, apparel, jewelry, kids, and pets. Faire Direct — brands bring their existing retail relationships onto Faire for order management and payment processing.

Net-60 terms — retailers get 60 days to pay, reducing cash flow pressure on small businesses. Free returns on first orders — retailers can return unsold products from new brands, eliminating the risk of trying something new.

Machine learning recommendations — "brands you might like" based on store type, location, and purchase patterns. Faire Markets — virtual trade show events with special promotions and new brand launches.

The risk-free first order (free returns + net-60 terms) was the unlock that got retailers to try the platform. Once a retailer placed a first order and it sold well, they kept coming back.

Brand acquisition scaled through direct outreach to emerging brands who couldn't afford trade show booths or sales teams — Faire offered them access to 700,000+ retailers. Geographic expansion from the US to the UK, Europe, and Australia brought the same model to international markets.

Faire Markets (virtual trade shows) replaced the expensive, twice-a-year physical trade show model with always-on digital discovery. Category expansion from gift and home goods into food, beauty, apparel, and pets increased the platform's relevance to more types of retailers.

The $12.4 billion valuation was set in 2022 and requires sustained hypergrowth to justify. Wholesale margins are thin and Faire's take rate compresses as brands grow and negotiate better terms.

The net-60 payment terms mean Faire is essentially running a lending business — credit risk increases during economic downturns when small retailers struggle. Competition from established wholesale platforms (Handshake by Shopify, Tundra, Abound) and from the trade show industry fighting back with digital offerings.

Small brand churn is high — many brands on Faire are small and fail, requiring constant supply-side replenishment. And the fundamental challenge of B2B marketplaces: once a retailer and brand establish a direct relationship through Faire, they have an incentive to cut out the middleman and transact directly.

Investors include Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, D1 Capital Partners, and Dragoneer Investment Group. Series G in 2022 valued Faire at $12.4 billion.