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District

Category: AI in Retail / E-commerce

AI-native commerce platform enabling anyone to build, launch, and scale online businesses (stores, marketplaces, live selling) without engineering resources. District was founded in 2022. The company is led by Eddie Koai (Edward Koai). Based in Los Angeles, California. Team size: 11-50. Total funding raised: $14.7M. Latest round: Seed. Key investors include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z); Kindred Ventures; Greylock Partners; SV Angel; 20VC; Maria Raga (former Depop CEO); Gokul Rajaram; Soleio; Deborah Liu; Imran Khan; Jacob Andreou; Peter Sellis; Josh Siegel.

Founded
2022
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Team size
11-50
Total funding
$14.7M

Value proposition

District provides an AI-powered commerce stack that lets users generate storefronts, manage transactions, and operate full-scale commerce environments through natural language prompts rather than code — replacing rigid, template-driven e-commerce systems with customizable, AI-generated experiences for creator-led and community-driven commerce.

Products and solutions

AI-powered storefront builder; centralized commerce operations dashboard; backend services for payments, fraud prevention, fulfillment workflows, and customer support; live selling platform; marketplace infrastructure; auction and subscription commerce tools.

Unique value

AI-native commerce infrastructure that eliminates the need for engineering resources or traditional software development — users can build and operate complex commerce businesses via natural language, while maintaining full ownership of their audience, data, and monetization model (no closed-ecosystem platform lock-in).

Target customer

Creators, entrepreneurs, small-to-medium brands, community-driven marketplace operators, and enterprise brands seeking flexible commerce infrastructure outside traditional e-commerce platforms.

Industries served

Creator commerce; live selling / livestream shopping; community-driven marketplaces; collectibles & resale; entertainment merchandise; niche retail; vintage & antiques; sports memorabilia.

Technology advantage

AI commerce stack with natural language storefront generation; unified platform combining storefront builder, operations dashboard, payments, fraud prevention, fulfillment, and customer support; built for real-time live selling and community-driven commerce formats; no-code/zero-engineering approach to complex marketplace creation.

How they differentiate

Unlike Whatnot (a centralized marketplace) or Shopify (template-driven e-commerce), District is an AI-native infrastructure platform that lets anyone create their own marketplace or storefront via natural language, with built-in live selling, community features, and full ownership of customer relationships and data.

Main competitors

Whatnot; CommentSold; Shopify (for traditional e-commerce)

Key partnerships

Andreessen Horowitz (lead investor); Kindred Ventures (co-lead); Greylock Partners; SV Angel; 20VC

Notable customers

NikNax (Crazy Lamp Lady); Stacked Golf; Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema; Dibdit (live shopping platform); Midwest Box Breaks

Major milestones

Founded 2022 by former Snap product/engineering leaders; quietly onboarded 1,000+ businesses over 3 years; raised $14.7M seed round led by a16z and Kindred Ventures in May 2026; moved into general availability in 2026

Growth metrics

1,000+ businesses onboarded over 3 years (2022-2025); NikNax generated $5M+ in sales in 2025 across 5,000 sellers; Stacked Golf generates ~$150K in weekly sales with 1,000+ active sellers

Market positioning

Positioned as the AI-native commerce infrastructure layer for the next generation of internet-native commerce — bridging the gap between creator-led communities and scalable commerce operations, targeting a new category outside traditional e-commerce platforms.

Geographic focus

United States (headquartered in Los Angeles, CA)

About Eddie Koai (Edward Koai)

Ex-Snap Inc. Product Leader (Head of Stories); Boston Consulting Group (BCG); UC Berkeley graduate. Also General Partner at Uncommon Projects.

Official website: