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Is Shopify a Software Company?

Last updated on October 1, 2022 @ 9:24 pm

Shopify is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It is also the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems.

Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services “including payments, marketing, shipping and customer engagement tools to simplify the process of running an online store for small merchants.” As of August 2019, Shopify had more than 1,000,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries and territories using its platform, with total gross merchandise volume exceeding $41 billion.

Shopify was founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment. Lütke used the open source web application framework Ruby on Rails to build Snowdevil’s online store, and launched it after two months of development.

Shopify was launched as an e-commerce platform for retailers in 2006.

PRO TIP: Please be aware that Shopify is a software company that provides online retailers with a platform to sell their products. While Shopify is a legitimate company, there have been reports of scams involving Shopify. If you are considering using Shopify to sell products online, be sure to do your research and only use a reputable source.

In 2010, Shopify acquired Select Start Studios Inc., a web design agency based in Toronto. In 2012, Shopify announced that it had raised $100 million from investors including Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

In 2015, Shopify acquired Boltmade Inc., a Waterloo-based web design agency. In 2016, Shopify acquired Ottawa-based UniteU Technologies Inc., which provides “enterprise grade” eCommerce solutions. In 2019, Shopify announced that it would be acquiring 6 River Systems for $450 million.

Is Shopify a Software Company?

Shopify is primarily a software company that offers an ecommerce platform for retailers.

Yes, Shopify is considered a software company because it provides an ecommerce platform for retailers which is considered a software application.

Madison Geldart

Madison Geldart

Cloud infrastructure engineer and tech mess solver.