Tilt raises – London-based startup Tilt says it is using AI to make live shopping auctions faster for sellers and easier for buyers. It has raised $26 million in a round led by TQ Ventures, adding to total funding of $50 million, as it moves to scale across Europe and into
A seller holds up an item to a camera and within seconds an auction listing appears—complete with a product description and a suggested price. On the other side of the screen, viewers pick a category and scroll through live, livestream-style auctions to bid and buy in real time.
That is the pitch from Tilt, a live shopping auction app that says AI does much of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. The London-based startup has raised $26 million in funding, according to the pitch deck it used for the round.
Tilt was founded in 2021 by ex-Revolut employees Abhi Thanendran and Neil Shah. The company says it has now raised $50 million to date.
Tilt’s app experience starts with category selection—such as womenswear or trading cards—then moves into livestream auctions that it compares to TikTok videos. Sellers go live to showcase products. Viewers bid and buy as the auction runs. in a format the company often describes as QVC for the social media generation.
Tilt’s central claim is that AI is embedded across nearly every step of selling online. Its Snap tool is designed to automate listing creation: when a seller holds an item up to the camera. Snap creates an auction listing. Tilt says it also auto-generates product descriptions and suggests pricing in seconds. In explaining the motivation behind that automation. cofounder and CEO Abhi Thanendran said. “Live commerce is very hard on the seller. and they have to do a lot of things.” He added. “With the AI technology. we can actually take away a lot of those problems.”.
Beyond listing creation, Tilt says it includes a copilot that acts as a kind of live coach. During auctions, the copilot prompts sellers in real time on how to improve their presentation. For discovery, Tilt points to an agentic search function designed to help buyers find items across different live sessions.
The company also leans on short-form growth content. Tilt says it uses AI clip-farming—content posted on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts—to help sellers grow their audiences.
Thanendran frames the goal less as optimization and more as opportunity. “A big part of Tilt is we want to help anybody start from nothing and become superstars,” he said.
Tilt’s revenue model is built on fees, mainly on the buyer side, with a smaller portion coming from the seller side. Its key competitors include TikTok Shop and eBay Live.
The latest round was led by TQ Ventures. Vinted Ventures—the investment arm of Lithuanian-founded secondhand resale platform Vinted—joined the funding round alongside existing investors including Balderton Capital, Earlybird, and Seedcamp.
In interviews tied to the fundraising, Thanendran said the $26 million will be used to build more AI-powered products and improve discovery. The company also plans to continue scaling its team and expand into new markets across Europe and into the US.
Tilt live shopping auctions AI Snap tool live commerce QVC TikTok Shop eBay Live TQ Ventures Vinted Ventures Balderton Capital Earlybird Seedcamp