Who Is Steven Schwartz, the CEO of Whop?

Steven Schwartz is the cofounder and CEO of Whop, an online marketplace where sellers build storefronts for digital products, online courses, software subscriptions, and private online communities.

Schwartz founded Whop in 2021 with Cameron Zoub and Jack Sharkey, and as of June 2026 Whop handled $300 million in monthly sales, per Fortune.

Who Steven Schwartz Is

Fortune reported on June 14, 2026 that Schwartz was 26 years old and graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business in 2021, the same year he launched Whop.

Fortune reported that he interned at the Singapore office of Accenture, where he built chatbots for shipping companies.

• Current role: Cofounder and CEO of Whop.
• Company: Whop, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
• Cofounders: Cameron Zoub (chief growth officer) and Jack Sharkey (chief technology officer).
• Known for: Leading Whop, valued at $5.1 billion in its October 2026 Series D led by Sequoia Capital.
• Education: New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business, graduated in 2021.

Ownership and Founding of Whop

Whop is privately held. Steven Schwartz, Cameron Zoub, and Jack Sharkey founded it in 2021, and it launched in March 2021. In 2024 Whop moved its headquarters to the Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, per Wikipedia.

None of the cited sources give ownership percentages for Schwartz, Zoub, or Sharkey.

Insight Partners led the July 2023 Series A, with participants including Peter Thiel, Justin Mateen, Justin Kan, The Chainsmokers, and Kevin O'Leary, per AlleyWatch. Bain Capital Ventures led the June 2024 Series B. On February 25, 2026, Tether made a $200 million investment in Whop, per PYMNTS. None of the cited sources names Iman Gadzhi as an owner of Whop.

From Sneaker Bots to Whop

Steven Schwartz started his first side hustle at age 13: a bot to buy limited-edition sneakers, as reported by Fortune. Schwartz and cofounder Cameron Zoub met as middle schoolers in a Facebook group about sneaker reselling, and together they built a sneaker-bot business called Sole Sniper.

As reported by Fortune, Sole Sniper sold bots priced from $20 to $500. Schwartz worked for a New York City hedge fund before finishing high school. His side projects included a disappearing-chat tool and a college hamburger delivery service, and he co-founded an IT agency in late 2018.

Schwartz recounted to CNBC Make It that he tested 23 separate side hustles, and the IT agency brought in $100,000 per month at its peak. He told Fortune that his venture-number-five attempt led to Whop. Jack Sharkey joined as the software developer when Whop was founded. Fortune also reported that Schwartz sold water on the streets while living in China and refereed hockey games in Springfield, Illinois. Tinder cofounder Justin Mateen mentors him, and an early investor introduced him to Mateen and brought Whop to Peter Thiel's attention.

Growth Metrics and Transaction Volume

AlleyWatch reported that by July 2023, Whop had completed more than $110 million in cumulative transaction volume and generated over $11 million in gross transaction volume in the preceding month.

In August 2023, CNBC Make It estimated Whop's revenue at roughly $354,000 per month. In 2023 Whop charged a 3% fee on purchases through its regular portal and 30% on sales generated through its discovery tools, per AlleyWatch. By June 2024, Fortune reported that Whop was processing around $400 million a year in transactions across 4 million monthly active users, supported by a team of 50 employees.

According to PYMNTS, Whop had more than 18.4 million users in February 2026 while expanding transaction volume by 25% month over month. By June 2026, Fortune reported that Whop served roughly 22 million total users, with 50,000 to 60,000 joining each day. Whop supported around $4 billion in annual commerce, or $300 million in monthly sales, per the same report.

Funding and Valuation Timeline

As of June 2026, Whop had raised about $272 million in total funding over five years, per Fortune. AlleyWatch listed Whop's total funding as $18 million at its $17 million Series A in July 2023.

In June 2024, Whop completed a Series B financing round of $50 million (reported as more than $50 million by Fortune) led by Bain Capital Ventures, as recorded on Wikipedia.

On February 25, 2026, Tether invested $200 million into Whop valuing it at $1.6 billion, as confirmed by Schwartz on X and documented by PYMNTS. The Tether funding is to support Whop's expansion across Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Under the deal, Whop users can use USDT and USAT stablecoins, and Whop will use Tether's Wallet Development Kit for on-chain settlement.

In October 2026, Whop completed a Series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital that valued Whop at $5.1 billion, up from $1.6 billion in February 2026. Tech Funding News and Bloomberg reported the raise at $205 million, while Whop's own announcement listed the round at $200 million. Shopify's venture arm also participated, and former Sequoia leader Doug Leone joined Whop's board. The money is for global expansion, research and development, and an AI-powered decision engine that uses transaction data to help merchants increase profits.

• July 2023: $17 million Series A led by Insight Partners, bringing total early capital to $18 million.
• June 2024: Series B round of $50 million led by Bain Capital Ventures.
• September 2025: Whop Payments launch enabling payouts across 241 international territories.
• February 2026: $200 million investment from Tether valuing Whop at $1.6 billion.
• October 2026: Series D led by Sequoia Capital at a $5.1 billion valuation ($200 million per Whop's announcement, $205 million per Bloomberg).

The 2026 AI Push

In late August 2026, SpaceXAI named Whop as Grok's first full-stack business connector, as announced on the Whop Blog.

On September 2, 2026, the partnership expanded to Cursor, where Whop is listed in the Cursor Marketplace under "Payments", and to Grok Bot, where Whop is live as a plugin. The Grok connector and Cursor integration extend the Whop CLI, and Whop has API partnerships with Replit, Poke, Cal.com and others. The Whop AI guide covers how these connectors work.

Whop is built on Ruby on Rails. Jack Sharkey, Whop's cofounder and CTO, spoke at Rails World 2025, per Ruby on Rails.

Operating Philosophy and Hiring Standards

In an interview with AlleyWatch, Schwartz advised founders to "focus on being a user of your own product and solving a problem out of need." He told CNBC Make It: "You want to really orient yourself around a real problem that needs to be solved." In August 2023 he described Whop as "Etsy for software products" and said, "The beauty of Whop is if we have an idea, we can just go on Whop and try it out."

He told Fortune: "The biggest learning is you have to just start a business if you want to." He added, "We learned that failure is kind of implied."

On hiring, he told Fortune: "The only thing that really matters is: has this person built something?" and "We look at energy. How fun is it to be with this person?" He has also said, "The idea that people can have fun while working is very foreign to most people, but has been solved by some." As of June 2026, Whop had 120 full-time staff and 40 open roles in engineering, growth, and design.

What to Watch at Whop

As of June 2026, Fortune reported that Whop claims its marketplace has produced over 650 millionaires, and that around 10 to 15 users make their first $20,000 on Whop every day.

In June 2024, Whop's stated goal was helping 1 million people earn a sustainable income ($2,000 a month) each month within five years. As of June 2026, Whop supported commerce across 145 countries, per Fortune.