Marketplace Memo #14
AWS Launches AI Agent Marketplace, Opendoor Stock Up 180%, Polymarket Buys QCEX for $112M, Swimply CEO is Back, OpenSea Acquires Rally, Turo Acquires Kyte Assets, AirGarage Raises $23M and Much More!
Hi, it’s Colin! Welcome to the 65 new subscribers who have joined Take Rate since the last Marketplace Memo. I am excited to have you join the 3,770+ marketplace founders, operators, and investors who subscribe. Join the fun! 👇
👋 Welcome to the 14th edition of the Marketplace Memo. 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!
Excited to feature a product from the Take Rate community!
Novi – Validate ideas before you build
Stop wasting time vibe coding the wrong ideas. Describe your concept and get signal if it’s worth chasing.
AI is the Supply Vibes:
I'm finally sending this out after welcoming a new addition to the family! While I haven't been able to sleep as much as I'd like, I have been able to utilize my struggling brain cells digitally with an AI version of myself.
The best part?
It doesn't need coffee, doesn't complain about diaper duty, and can work around the clock without demanding a raise. If you'd like to try out Colin AI, visit this link and ask it some questions. I am actively working to improve answers on the backend. The AI agent is by SuperMe, courtesy of Casey Winters and Ludo Antonov, who have built a very cool marketplace where users can access AI agent versions of their favorite experts.
Here's the fun part: time is finite, but what if it wasn't?
If we can extend ourselves digitally and let that extension help others, we suddenly become more productive without actually working more hours. I'm excited about this because it's peak "only AI can do this" territory, and it's genuinely the first time we're seeing AI become the actual labor supply; not just facilitating the handshake between buyer and seller, but being what gets bought and sold. This feeds perfectly into what we covered in the last memo: the best marketplaces don't just organize existing supply; they conjure entirely new supply out of thin air (or, in this case, out of podcast transcripts and blog posts).
However, here's where the rubber meets the road: answering questions effectively is a challenging task. There's a universe of knowledge rattling around in every expert's head that never makes it to the internet; all those offhand insights from coffee chats, random shower thoughts, and "well, actually..." moments.
I think the fact of the matter is that most experts aren’t writing down or saying what they think is obvious most of the time, which means that there is a lot of basic scaffolding of ideas that isn’t well-documented. It appears that a practical approach is to have an expert write or speak at length on core concepts to train the agent.
We're definitely in the first innings here, as companies like SuperMe and Delphi figure out this "rent-an-expert-brain" business model. I am excited to have a front-row seat for the agent-led marketplace evolution, where AI stops being a tool and starts being the supply.
The most frequent question topic hitting my AI agent? How to scale the demand side of a marketplace. Plus, some of these funny ones:
Can you give me a complete download of your brain?
What is your opinion of the current Bitcoin price?
Are you old?
What’s Colin’s biggest secret?
🔥 The Highlight
The Agent marketplace wars are here…
AWS launched its AI Agent Marketplace on July 15th, featuring over 900 agents from established companies such as Anthropic, IBM, Salesforce, and PwC (I previously covered this in Marketplace Memo #8). It's the latest move in what's becoming a proper platform war. Google launched its own in April, Microsoft rolled out its Agent Store in May, and OpenAI just escalated things with ChatGPT, which can browse the web and perform tasks on your behalf. Meanwhile, consumer platforms like Poe have been quietly building agent ecosystems with millions of user-created bots across multiple AI models. Everyone is racing to become the "app store for AI agents" because they know that whoever controls distribution controls the game.
The enterprise adoption story is messier than the hype suggests. Only 15% of executives are considering AI agent deployment because it turns out CFOs aren't thrilled about autonomous systems that might go rogue. AWS is betting its "one-stop shop" approach (agents, guardrails, and infrastructure bundled together) will win over cautious enterprises. With Amazon's $13.8 billion bet on Anthropic and everyone from startups to tech giants scrambling for marketplace real estate, we're witnessing the infrastructure layer of AI land grabs happen in real-time. The winner doesn't just receive a revenue share; they also get to define how businesses interact with AI for the next decade.
📰 News
"Opendoor stock records 180% weekly gain as retail frenzy cements meme status" - The iBuyer marketplace platform surged 188% after hedge fund manager Eric Jackson (who called Carvana's comeback) posted a bull thesis targeting $82/share, triggering retail meme stock mania despite the company facing delisting warnings and never achieving positive EBITDA. Yahoo Finance
“BREAKING: Polymarket has acquired QCEX for $112M. The deal will allow Polymarket to launch in the US 🇺🇸” - TBPN
"Swimply founder returns as CEO, company hits profitability in 4 months and partners with Disney" - Pool-sharing marketplace founder Bunim Laskin returned as CEO alongside original co-founder Abe Saiovici, achieving profitability within four months while launching 10 new features including Swimply Premium, Pets, Luxe, and Memberships across their platform, serving 4+ million guests in three countries. Swimply also launched a partnership with Disney. LinkedIn
"OpenSea acquires Rally wallet to bolster mobile and token trading push" - The NFT marketplace's acquisition of mobile-first crypto wallet Rally signals a significant move toward becoming a unified on-chain trading platform, with Rally's CEO Chris Maddern becoming OpenSea's new CTO. The Block
"Turo welcomes Kyte's customers" - Turo acquired select assets from car rental platform Kyte, adding to their 1.5 billion cars mission as the peer-to-peer mobility space continues consolidating around scale leaders. Turo
"Beehiiv surpasses $20M ARR just 3.5 years after launch" - Newsletter platform Beehiiv hit $20M ARR (plus additional ~$10M from their Ad Network and Boosts marketplace features), demonstrating how SaaS eventually evolves beyond subscriptions into multi-sided marketplace models. X
"Outdoorsy cuts half of product team in layoffs" - The RV rental marketplace laid off approximately 50% of its product organization along with cuts across other departments. LinkedIn
"Exclusive: Lovevery launches secondhand 'Pre-loved' marketplace for popular toys" - Lovevery partnered with Archive to launch a peer-to-peer secondhand marketplace, capitalizing on their toys' 70% resale value and targeting the gap between their 5 million social followers and 650,000 customers. Modern Retail
"This past holiday weekend, over 50,000 people recharged and reconnected at one of ResortPass' 2,000+ partner properties" - ResortPass continues scaling their day-pass marketplace model, demonstrating strong holiday weekend demand for their hotel amenity access platform without overnight stays. LinkedIn
"Our Farms launches curated online market featuring farm-raised foods" - Farm-to-consumer marketplace Our Farms launched with over 1,000 farmer-owned products, targeting the $150B+ opportunity to connect consumers directly with sustainable agriculture through their "Verified Farmer-Owned" certification program. Grocery Dive
"The Bezel Report: 2025 H1 Watch Market Trends & Insights" - Watch marketplace Bezel released comprehensive market data showing 27% rejection rate for inauthentic listings (38% valued over $10k), Rolex maintaining 37% of wants/33% of sales, and stainless steel extending dominance to 72% of transactions amid Swiss tariff impacts and social media-driven collecting trends. Bezel
"Introducing CNaught's MCP Server: Access Your Climate Data Directly from AI Tools" - Carbon credit marketplace CNaught launched a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enabling users to access their carbon credit portfolio data, run emissions calculations, and generate impact reports directly through AI tools like Claude and Cursor via natural language queries. CNaught
💰 Fundraising
Alloy raises $1.5M Seed+ led by 11 Tribes, with participation from Hustle Fund, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and Park Rangers Capital - The precious metals exchange marketplace provides consumers with accurate, upfront payout estimates and secure transactions for selling precious metals. Alloy
TruckParkingClub raises strategic investment from CAT Scale Company - Marketplace connecting truckers with reservable parking spaces across 2,323 locations nationwide, aiming to reduce driver search time from 56 minutes to under 10 minutes per day. LinkedIn
Sitch raises $5M Seed led by M13 and a16z Speedrun - AI-powered matchmaking app that combines human expertise with AI to connect singles through personalized matches and curated first dates. M13 and Founder Announcement
AirGarage raises $23M Series B led by Headline - Parking management platform that replaces traditional parking operations with a unified, data-rich operating system for real estate owners. AirGarage and Founder Announcement
Bumo raises $10M Seed led by True Ventures and Offline Ventures - An on-demand childcare marketplace connecting parents with vetted providers for flexible booking of camps, full-time, part-time, and backup care services. Business Wire and Founder Announcement
Gone raises $6.3M Seed led by FUSE - Local reuse marketplace that offers free pickup of unwanted goods and resells them through multiple channels, including their store and other platforms. Nick Huzar, a Co-Founder of OfferUp, has joined as Chairman. GeekWire
FlyGuys raises $13M Series A-1 led by Kevin O'Leary's Wonder Fund - Reality data platform connecting enterprises with a network of 16,000+ FAA-certified drone pilots for AI-ready data collection across industries. Yahoo Finance
📖 Reads
"How Generative AI Adds Value to the Future of Work" - Upwork's research reveals that AI is simultaneously displacing low-value work while enhancing high-value work across all categories, with new skill categories, such as"AI content creator", emerging on their platform. The displacement-reinstatement dynamic is happening faster than expected, creating both challenges and opportunities for marketplace operators. Upwork Research
"Apps are Dying. Agents are Buying." - Simon Taylor argues that AI agents are transforming commerce by dissolving apps into "liquid software" and making checkout processes invisible, with platforms like Perplexity's Comet browser turning three separate shopping apps into a single conversation. Fintech Brainfood
"Investing in Growth" - Former Grubhub, Airbnb, and Cambly finance leader Morgan Hughes applies game theory to the classic question of "how much should we spend on growth," arguing that companies should invest aggressively in sales/marketing as long as it creates sufficient value to either bootstrap with free cash flow or raise more capital. Morgan Hughes
"Multi-Billion Startup Back Market Is Turning Tech Trash into Gold" - Back Market has reached $5.7 billion valuation by creating a dedicated marketplace for refurbished tech that separates itself from generic "used" goods on eBay and Amazon, processing 30 million orders and preventing over a million metric tons of carbon emissions. The company's success highlights how vertical marketplaces can capture massive value by solving trust and quality issues in previously fragmented resale markets. Inc.com
"Local Circularity Could Unlock Trillions in Value" - OfferUp co-founder Nick Huzar outlines his vision for unlocking massive local value through three key ingredients: robust local marketplaces (OfferUp), scalable AI-enabled logistics (Gone), and autonomous EV delivery networks (Juicer Energy). LinkedIn
"Leland: $10,000,000+/yr coaching marketplace playbook" - Deep dive into how Leland grew from 50 MBA admission coaches to an 8-figure coaching marketplace by starting impossibly narrow and expanding strategically along customer journeys. Consumer Startups
"THE NETWORK EFFECT — IN THE REAL WORLD." - LinkedIn post from construction rental marketplace Downstream showing the growing network effect as they expand with contractors to new projects. LinkedIn
"Winning the AI Era: How Hotels Can Break Free from OTA Dependence" - Post from Steve Kaufer (CEO of TripAdvisor) and others that argues that AI's shift toward answer-driven search creates a generational opportunity for hotels to bypass OTA oligopolies through direct booking relationships. The piece outlines how Model Context Protocol (MCP) could enable AI systems to surface hotel-direct offers that OTAs can't match. DirectBooker
"FJ Labs Q2 2025 Update" - Fabrice Grinda's quarterly update highlights AI's transformative impact on marketplaces, featuring portfolio company wins like Clutch surpassing C$1B in vehicle purchases and Palmstreet raising $25M for its livestream shopping platform. Fabrice Grinda
"The Heath Ledger guide to AI" - This unconventional take argues that AI's real impact comes not from task automation but from reducing coordination costs between people and organizations. The piece draws parallels to shipping containers, suggesting that AI's transformative power lies in enabling new forms of economic coordination rather than just replacing individual jobs. Platforms
"The False-Positive Incumbent" - NFX argues that many AI companies masquerading as market leaders are actually "false-positive incumbents" with unsustainable unit economics masked by hype-driven demand. The framework helps identify which "unicorns" are building real moats versus those optimizing for fundraising theater. NFX
"Meet the SNAK Machine (Beta)" - Snak VC has made their internal marketplace analytics tool publicly available, turning raw transaction data into buyer/seller cohort analysis and benchmarking insights for founders. Give it a spin! Snak VC
"The Case for a Vertical API Layer in Your B2B Marketplace" - B2B marketplaces are evolving beyond matching platforms by building APIs that embed them into customers' daily workflows, from Faire's Shopify integrations to Flexport's freight management APIs. The strategic insight: APIs transform marketplaces from occasional-use platforms into deeply embedded tools. This is the marketplace+ model in action. Snak VC
📽️ Watch or Listen
"May I Have Your Retention Please Podcast Episode 1" - This interview with Saba Karim and SideShift co-founder Drew Levinn breaks down how their Gen Z creator marketplace climbed to the top 50 on the App Store through creative growth tactics like TikTok content and strategic cold outreach, ultimately scaling to 45k monthly downloads before strategically pausing marketing.
"How Claude Is Building A Unique Growth Engine Out of User-Created Apps" - Brian Balfour breaks down how Anthropic's Claude AI-powered apps create a novel content loop where users build no-code applications that others must authenticate with Claude to use, driving both user acquisition and subscription upgrades. The model flips traditional platform constraints into advantages by offering free hosting and eliminating API costs for creators, while capturing user growth through mandatory authentication; creating "nested loops" where each app becomes its distribution channel for Claude. Brian Balfour
"Everything Marketplaces Group Chat #192 with Mike Ghaffary (Burst Capital)" - Burst Capital GP Mike Ghaffary shares his operator-turned-investor perspective on evaluating marketplaces, the impact of AI agents on platforms, and practical fundraising benchmarks for early-stage founders. His updated marketplace checklist and insights on current growth rate expectations make this particularly valuable for founders navigating today's funding environment.
Marketplace Jobs
Would you like 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 feedback or news I missed. 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'd like to schedule a call, you can find me on expert marketplaces Hubble or Intro.
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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 longtime advisor to marketplaces, helping them with product growth, monetization, liquidity optimization, and strategy. Previously, he served as the CPO/CRO at Outdoorsy and has worked at Tripping.com, Ancestry.com, JustAnswer, and the Federal Reserve.