London-based startup Tilt has created a livestream marketplace where sellers broadcast real-time auctions and viewers bid on products ranging from sneakers and designer clothing to beauty items, electronics, and collectibles. Instead of browsing static product listings, buyers engage directly with sellers, ask questions during live broadcasts, and compete in fast-paced auctions.

The platform is already fostering a new generation of Gen Z entrepreneurs. Cofounder Neil Shah told Fortune about a 17-year-old seller who started in his grandmother's bedroom and scaled his business to over $100,000 within a few months. "That's a true testament that you've actually built something where people can go from zero to 100," Shah said.

Another seller, a 22-year-old named Maddie, built a full-time business on the platform while managing health challenges. Maddie, who is deaf and has fibromyalgia, sells niche streetwear brands. After initially reaching "upper five figures" in monthly sales, she surpassed $100,000 in June, according to the cofounders.

These cases are not isolated. Another sneaker seller generates approximately $260,000 in monthly sales, the company said. Sellers can offer nearly anything on stream, tapping into a global bidding market.

Gen Z's bet on social commerce

Tilt's growth mirrors a broader shift in social commerce, where entertainment and shopping increasingly intersect. Livestream commerce has surged across China in recent years, where platforms like Taobao Live and Douyin have turned product broadcasts into a major retail channel generating hundreds of billions of dollars in annual sales. Western markets have been slower to embrace the model, though TikTok's expansion of TikTok Shop in the United States and United Kingdom signals growing momentum.

Tilt joins California-based Whatnot, another livestream shopping app gaining traction in the United States. Whatnot has grown into one of the largest live shopping marketplaces outside Asia, attracting multibillion-dollar valuations as demand for interactive shopping experiences rises.

Like Whatnot, Tilt sees auctions—and the urgency they generate—as a critical ingredient.

"The auction format being as powerful as it is was definitely a surprise," cofounder Abhinavan Thanendran told Fortune. "Prior to this, you had eBay auctions, but they weren't really exciting. Here, the engagement from buyers on auctions has been incredible."

The concept originated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when local retail shops were forced to close. Thanendran explored ways for shops to continue operating under lockdown, including a livestream system.

"We thought, why don't the store owners just livestream from inside their shop, show people what they have, and then people can come pick it up?" he said. "As time went on, we realized there was so much more to this than just stores."

That idea evolved into Tilt, which officially launched in 2023. The marketplace now hosts livestream auctions across multiple categories, including apparel, sneakers, luxury accessories, trading cards, sports memorabilia, watches, beauty products, food and beverages, and clearance merchandise. Some sellers specialize in liquidation inventory, offering appliances such as microwaves, refrigerators, and air fryers that might otherwise end up in landfills.

AI as a competitive differentiator

Tilt sets itself apart from competitors like Whatnot through AI systems embedded directly in the platform, according to the cofounders. The app uses AI to scan, research, and list items from livestreams, making them searchable for its user base of over 1 million buyers.

"It's now just like a multi-layered AI—multimodal, multi-layered—with so many different AI models layered on top of each other to essentially come up with the final result," Shah said. "Models to understand that condition, models to understand the price, to understand the brand."

The system correctly identifies products roughly 90% of the time, according to Shah. Sellers can correct any errors before an auction begins, and those corrections feed back into the system to improve future AI model performance.

"We validate it through seeing how many edits have been made on these products, and then we'll just tune the models to be better," he said.

The founders argue that these tools lower the barrier to entry, enabling anyone—not just experienced resellers—to build a business on the platform.

Developing the AI pipeline presented significant challenges. "One of the most surprising things was how much sellers really hate to list," Shah said. "So we set to solve it from the get go. We put in like a ton of R&D into basically building a bunch of models."

Tilt has raised approximately $50 million from investors, including Balderton Capital, Earlybird, Seedcamp, TQ Ventures, and most recently Vinted Ventures, the investment arm of secondhand marketplace Vinted. The backing from Vinted, which operates one of Europe's largest resale platforms, points to growing interest from established secondhand players in livestream as a sales channel.

The founders believe livestream shopping will extend well beyond collectors and resale communities. They expect video to become the primary interface for e-commerce.

"We think the entire future of commerce is going to change to video and livestreams," Thanendran said. "Whether you're a traditional retailer or a resale marketplace, the medium is going to change."

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.