Whatnot has opened its European headquarters in Dublin and plans to double its Irish workforce of more than 130 people over the next 18 months. It shows a live commerce platform placing payments, infrastructure and trust and safety work in one European hub as it prepares to open to Irish sellers in 2027.

Whatnot is a Los Angeles-headquartered live commerce platform established in 2019, with a presence in North America, the UK and Europe. It enables individuals and small business owners to sell products through a live video feed, answering questions and taking orders.

The new roles will be in engineering and AI, operations, strategy, and trust and safety. Dublin engineers currently focus on the platform’s core buying and selling flows, payment systems and infrastructure.

The new AI engineering roles will develop tools that take admin work away from sellers so they can redirect their focus elsewhere.

Whatnot will open its platform to small Irish businesses next year, giving local shops and entrepreneurs access to shoppers in Ireland and around the world.

Grant LaFontaine, co-founder and CEO of Whatnot, said: “The depth of engineering and AI talent coming out of Ireland’s universities is a big part of why we keep growing the team here. Sellers around the world rely on what our Dublin engineers build every day to grow their businesses, and there’s a lot more to build.”

Minister of State Alan Dillon welcomed the decision, describing the plan to double the team as a strong endorsement of the talent available in Ireland and of its attractiveness for innovation.

The talent pool supports that case. Silicon Republic reported that IDA Ireland’s Labour Market Pulse report ranks Ireland fourth globally for AI engineering talent concentration, behind Israel, Singapore and Luxembourg.

The same report found entry-level recruitment in AI-augmented roles fell by more than 16 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2026.

For the sector, locating payment systems, infrastructure and AI tooling teams in one hub signals that marketplace platforms are building operational capacity close to the sellers they plan to onboard.

Source: Silicon Republic