Update: Etsy Art

“We won’t ever have power-sellers ,” said co-founder and engineer Chris Maguire, “because no one can make 10,000 handmade things.” Since its 2005 founding, Etsy has attracted more than 1 million users in 171 countries, racking up sales of $27 million in 200 Etsy also has a number of video components, including craft workshop demos and video town halls with Kalin and other staffers, in which users can write in with questions or comments and get real-time answers.

Until recently, the site was backed only by San Francisco angel investors and Flickr.com founders Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield and Union Square Ventures in New York. A recent $23 million infusion of capital from Silicon Valley’s Accel Partners - which has funded such success stories as Facebook and RealNetworks - has given Etsy the war chest it needs to expand dramatically. Accel values Etsy at about $90 million. Etsy site was nearly profitable in January, and had grown to more than 50 employees, most of whom work in customer support or engineering. Etsy’s founding has dovetailed nicely with a craft renaissance among people in their 20s and 30s.