Shopify was founded in 2006 by Tobias Lutke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake in Ottawa, Canada. Lutke, a programmer, originally built the platform because existing e-commerce solutions weren’t good enough for his online snowboard shop. That frustration turned into one of the most successful SaaS companies in history.
Shopify went public on the NYSE in 2015 and has since grown into a commerce giant. The platform powers millions of merchants in over 175 countries, from solo entrepreneurs to major brands like Allbirds, Gymshark, and Heinz. Cumulative gross merchandise volume (GMV) has surpassed $235 billion.
The platform offers everything merchants need: hosted storefronts, payment processing (Shopify Payments, powered by Stripe), shipping label generation, inventory management, and a massive app ecosystem with thousands of third-party plugins. Shopify Plus caters to enterprise clients with higher traffic and customization needs.
In recent years, Shopify has expanded into point-of-sale hardware, fulfillment services, and B2B wholesale. The company also launched Shopify Magic, a suite of AI features for generating product descriptions, optimizing images, and personalizing storefronts.
Headquartered in Ottawa with a “digital by default” remote work policy, Shopify employs over 8,000 people. Lutke has been vocal about keeping the company lean — a 2023 layoff cut about 20% of staff as part of a refocus on core commerce. Shopify’s annual revenue crossed $7 billion in 2023, and its stock has rebounded strongly after a post-pandemic dip.
