Marketplace Memo #10
Facebook Marketplace has 1.2B MAU, Fora raises $35M, Lyft going to Europe, Turo layoffs, Temu cuts all Google Shopping Ads, Thumbtack makes $400M in 2024, Etsy sells Reverb and much more!
Hi, it’s Colin! Welcome to the 72 new subscribers who have joined Take Rate since the last Marketplace Memo. I am excited to have you join the 3,360+ marketplace founders, operators, and investors who subscribe. Join the fun! 👇
👋 Welcome to the 10th edition of the Marketplace Memo. I can’t believe I made it this far! My goal is to share curated news, content, and stories related to marketplaces, along with a splash of my own color. Please enjoy and share with others!
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The Vibe: Google's Ad Marketplace Defies AI Disruption Fears
Google's advertising marketplace, the company's dominant revenue engine, has defied predictions that AI would undermine its effectiveness. Ad revenue grew to over $ 50.7 billion in the latest quarter, a 10% year-over-year increase that exceeded market expectations. On the earnings call, it was stated that “with the launch of AI Overviews, the volume of commercial queries has increased," suggesting that AI features are driving valuable search activity rather than diminishing it. This performance directly contradicts the widespread belief that other LLMs and generative AI features would reduce ad clicks by answering queries directly. Instead, it demonstrates that AI overlays have enhanced Google's core marketplace at least for now.
The key finding here for marketplaces is that properly implemented AI strengthens, rather than weakens, platform economics and usage. For Google, AI has become an enhancement layer that improves relevance and usage rather than an existential threat. The lesson for other marketplace operators is clear: AI, when thoughtfully integrated, can amplify a marketplace's fundamental value proposition of facilitating matches between supply and demand. The winners in this new paradigm won't be those who view AI as a replacement for their core functionality, but those who leverage it to make their marketplaces more precise, relevant, and valuable to all participants. Make your product so good with AI that users want to come back again and again!
The Highlight
According to Capital One (which uses a coupon extension to source this data, I believe), Facebook Marketplace has 1.228 billion monthly users, which is massive. This scale also makes it one of the largest commerce platforms out there. Some other interesting statistics from Capital One:
Up to 40% of Facebook’s 3.07 billion monthly active users shop on Marketplace,
An estimated 491 million or 16% of active users log in to Facebook for the sole purpose of shopping on Facebook Marketplace.
250 million sellers worldwide use Facebook Marketplace.
In 2022, Facebook Marketplace users increased 3.61% year-over-year (YoY).
News
"Lyft to enter European market with $200 million FreeNow acquisition" - Lyft is expanding into Europe through the acquisition of FreeNow from BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The company needs to continue growing, and expanding into new markets is one way to do it. Yahoo Finance
"DoorDash offers to buy Deliveroo for $2.40 a share" - More growth via international expansion for a company that has been hyper-focused on the US. Bloomberg
"Temu quietly makes drastic decision as consumers switch gears" - On April 9th, the shopping giant turned off all Google Shopping ads in response to rising tariffs. The company accounted for 20% of all Google Shopping ad impressions before the shut-off. The Street
"Turo cuts 15% of workers after icing IPO" - The car rental marketplace has reduced its workforce following its decision to postpone its IPO. It is a bummer to see this. Bloomberg
"Home services company Thumbtack is thriving even as the real estate market stays slow" - Thumbtack reported revenue of $400 million in 2024, up 27% YoY. The company is putting a heavy focus on AI. Maybe an IPO in the making? Fast Company
"Piper Sandler Proposes eBay and Etsy Tie-Up to Compete With Amazon" - The investment firm suggests a merger between two major marketplaces to challenge Amazon's dominance. I think that on paper, adding together the user bases makes it look big, but it ultimately misunderstands the network effects and different buyer bases. Neither is growing particularly fast, compared to Amazon. Yahoo Finance
"Etsy to sell music gear marketplace Reverb" - The creative goods marketplace is divesting its music equipment platform to focus more on the core marketplace and Depop. Retail Dive
"Russian state takes over yet another e-commerce leader, online marketplace Avito" - Russia assumes control of the digital commerce platforms, which apparently has been a larger trend, but is the first I heard of it. It looks like they are consolidating around VK (the Russian equivalent of Facebook) and Yandex (the Russian equivalent of Google). MSN
"Black-market groups on Facebook are reportedly selling Uber and DoorDash accounts" - Underground markets are emerging for rideshare and delivery accounts that bypass verification requirements. Fortune
"Zillow turns full-blown housing market bear—just look at its new forecast" - Zillow is projecting, based on its marketplace data, that US home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, will fall 1.7% between March 2025 and March 2026. Fast Company
"NFT Marketplace Magic Eden Acquires Trading App Slingshot" - The Solana-based NFT marketplace is expanding its capabilities through this acquisition, which will allow it to sell across multiple blockchains. CoinDesk
RUCK Construction Material Delivery Marketplace Launches Material Price Tracking - In response to rising prices from tariffs, RUCK has launched a construction material price tracking app for contractors. LinkedIn
“Peer-to-Peer Rental Startup Pickle Expands Into Miami” - The peer-to-peer clothes sharing app launches in Miami, stemming from organic growth and demand. Here is the Co-Founder’s post as well. Sourcing Journal
Fundraising
Fora Raises $35M in Series B Funding Led by Thrive Capital and Insight Partners - Fora continues to expand its platform for travel agents. The company announced a $13.5M Series A from Forerunner in August 2022. Fora Travel
Crux Raises $50M Series B Funding Round Led by Lower Carbon Capital - Climate tech marketplace Crux raises substantial capital to expand its climate intelligence solutions and debt marketplace. The company has raised $77M thus far. Crux Climate
Reads
"AI Agents As Customers: Rethinking The Marketplace Of The Future" - Thought piece on how AI agents will transform marketplace dynamics and consumer behavior. Forbes
"How to Structure a B2B Marketplace Venture" - Research study of 200 B2B marketplaces about the challenges of building them. 51% of respondents were pure startups, 30% were corporate marketplaces, and 19% were corporate spin-offs. MIT Sloan Management Review
"Facebook Is Just Craigslist Now" - Analysis of how Facebook Marketplace has evolved to resemble the classified ad platform in both function and culture. The Atlantic
"Why Is Facebook Marketplace Hard to Use" - An exploration of user experience challenges on the social media giant's marketplace but also noting that it is the key reason so many users have the app in the first place. As noted above, Facebook Marketplace is massive! Dwell
"How Airbnb Measures Listing Lifetime Value" - Inside look at the vacation rental marketplace's approach to valuing and optimizing property listings’ LTV. It is a very interesting approach focused on marginal and incremental gains, which I think is the right way to think about this at their scale. Medium - Airbnb Engineering
"Slow, Slow, Slow, Slow...Then Overnight" - Reflection on the non-linear growth pattern of LLM referral traffic to Zumper by the Founder and how it is similar to the early days of Google. LinkedIn - Anthemos Georgiades
Flexport’s Private Market Stock Price - Interesting data around the market’s reaction to Flexport reporting lower growth and delayed profitability. LinkedIn - Sim Desai
Watch or Listen
District x Marketplaces - 6-week founder program for consumer marketplace companies. I will be a guest speaker. Please see more below! LinkedIn
Starting & Scaling Treet with Jake Disareli, CEO of Treet - A great interview with Mike Williams of Everything Marketplaces.
Marketplace Jobs
Vice President of Product - Venteur
Senior Product Designer, Consumer Retention - DoorDash
Manager, Marketplace Strategic Initiatives - Walmart
Senior Manager, Marketplace - Staples
Product Manager - Vivid Seats
Vice President, Product, Storefront and Buyer Experience - Xometry
Senior Director, Creative - The Knot Worldwide
Marketplace Billing Lead - MongoDB
Growth Marketing Manager, GTM - CookUnity
Senior Marketing Manager, SEO & CRO - Thumbtack
Support Role - Gumroad
Want to see your job listed here? Email colin@yonder.vc with the subject line “Job Posting” to be included or get your job featured!
Thanks for reading!
That is a wrap for the week! As always, please email me at colin@yonder.vc with any missed feedback or news. Hot tips are always welcome. Please don’t forget to subscribe and follow me on X and LinkedIn for other great marketplace content. If you want to book a call, you can find me on Intro.
This week, I want you to learn!
6-week Founder Program for Consumer Marketplace Companies
The founder community, District, is launching its next 6-week virtual program, designed explicitly for marketplace founders scaling post-seed companies. The program is led by Erin Anderson, a marketplace vet from Lyft, Airbnb, and Postmates, and will launch on May 15, 2025.
This program is designed not only to provide practical insights but also to create lasting connections within a community that includes trailblazing marketplace leaders. It’s more than just a series of speakers—it’s a place for growth, collaboration, and learning from other founders.
District x Marketplace Program Details:
Exclusivity: 10-person cohort
Start Date: May 15, 2025
Schedule: Thursdays, 3-4:30 PDT
Speakers: Industry leaders from top marketplace companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, Postmates, and Lyft
Format: 6 virtual sessions and mastermind groups including onboarding, 6 expert-led workshops, and optional 1:1 office hours
Access: 1-year District membership for continued networking and resources.
About Me:
Colin is a marketplace geek and the General Partner of Yonder, a pre-seed marketplace fund that invests in marketplaces that create new economies. He has also been a long-time advisor to marketplaces, helping them with product growth, monetization, liquidity optimization, and strategy. Previously, he was the CPO/CRO at Outdoorsy and worked at Tripping.com, Ancestry.com, Justanswer, and the Federal Reserve.
First, I love Wispr Flow. I can’t live without it now!
Second, damn, #10 and it’s as insightful as the first one! Not getting old. Thanks for flagging the MIT research!