Shopify

Tobias Lütke, Scott Lake and Daniel Weinand founded Snowdevil to sell snowboards. Existing e-commerce software did not meet their needs, so Lütke built his own online store system with Ruby on RailsRuby on RailsRuby on Rails (often shortened to Rails) is an open-source, full-stack web application framework written in the Ruby programming language that builds database-backed web applications following the model–view–controller (MVC) pattern. Created by David Heinemeier Hansson and first publicly released in 2004, it is known for design principles such as “convention over configuration,” and companies including GitHub and Shopify use it in production.Open the full entry; the team then turned the software into a platform for other merchants and launched Shopify in 2006.⁠[1][2]

Lütke moved from chief technology officer to chief executive officer. He had served as a director since 2004 and remained involved in the platform’s product and technical direction.⁠[3]

Shopify announced a $7 million Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from FirstMark and Felicis. The funds were to be used to expand the team, the app and theme ecosystem, and international operations. Lütke said at the time that the company had already been profitable for several consecutive years and was taking a minority investment.⁠[4]

Shopify POS launched in 2013, connecting in-store checkout with the online store’s products, inventory and customer records. The initial setup was based on an iPad app and a card reader, allowing stores to accept card payments and view sales reports; Shopify Payments brought payment processing into the merchant admin.⁠[5][6]

Shopify launched Shopify Plus for larger merchants, offering dedicated project and account support, higher API call limits and negotiable payment rates. The product extended a service that had mainly served small and medium-sized businesses to brands and retailers with more complex needs.⁠[7]

The company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. On May 27, it confirmed the completion of its offering of 8,855,000 Class A subordinate voting shares, including the over-allotment, at $17 per share, for gross proceeds of about $150.5 million.⁠[8]

Shopify announced that it would invest at least $5 million a year in carbon removal and other environmental technologies and projects. The initial plan included buying at least $1 million a year in carbon sequestration services, helping these technologies scale by creating demand.⁠[9]

Shopify disclosed that two members of its support team were suspected of improperly obtaining customer transaction records from some merchants; the company terminated their network access and cooperated with law enforcement. At the time it confirmed that fewer than 200 merchants were affected and that the data involved customer names, email addresses, physical addresses and order details; the company said complete payment card numbers were not involved.⁠[10]

On May 4, Shopify announced that it would reduce its team by about 20% and adjust its business focus. On June 6, it completed the sale of most of the former Shopify Logistics business to Flexport, receiving shares equal to 13% of Flexport’s equity in addition to its existing stake. Logistics services continued through partners, and the company refocused on commerce software.⁠[11][12]

Shopify transferred its U.S. stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq, keeping the SHOP ticker; its Toronto listing was unchanged. Nasdaq scheduled the transfer for trading on March 31, and the company’s later financial reports confirmed its Nasdaq listing.⁠[13][14]

On April 7, Lütke published an internal memo making effective use of AI a baseline expectation for all employees, including management; before asking for more headcount and resources, teams must explain why they cannot get the work done with AI. The memo also called for including AI use in prototyping and in performance feedback.⁠[15]

Working with Coinbase and Stripe, the company began gradually rolling out USDC payments on the Base network to eligible Shopify Payments merchants. Merchants receive local currency by default or can choose to send USDC to an external wallet; the solution also handles payment authorization and later capture in e-commerce.⁠[16]

The Spring ’26 Edition expanded Sidekick’s connections with third-party apps, letting merchants look up business information and take actions in conversation. Sidekick App Extensions opened to developers, and the Shopify AI Toolkit became generally available, providing integrated access to developer documentation, store data and admin tools.⁠[17][18]

Shopify and DoorDash launched a direct integration that lets U.S. Shopify merchants with physical stores sync products, inventory and orders and offer local sales and delivery through DoorDash. Expansion to other countries and regions was still a future plan at the time of the announcement.⁠[19]

For the quarter ended June 30, Shopify’s revenue was $3.583 billion, up 34% year over year, and gross merchandise volume was $115.567 billion, up 32%. Operating income was $488 million and net income was $1.502 billion, including an after-tax mark-to-market gain on equity investments of $1.063 billion. Free cash flow was $654 million, or 18% of revenue, a non-GAAP measure disclosed by the company.⁠[20]