When you are fledgling start-up and you can barely manage to secure funding in excess of $25 million each round, it can’t be comforting to hear that a company like eBay is entering your competitive space. This is precisely what has befallen Shopify.com, the young start-up devoted to the creation of online storefront tools. The company recently received funding to tune of $15 million to help develop its platform but no soon that it got that money, it found out that eBay will become a direct competitor.
According to CEO and co-founder Tobias Lütke, the young company has been shattering it’s short term and medium term growth projections. In six months Shopify has grown from 10,000 storefronts to over to over 16,000 operating in over 80 countries. Employee numbers have also doubled and now sit at 80, with plans to increase staffing to 130 in the coming year. Clearly then Shopify is operating in a growth sector, which I suppose is why eBay felt that it was worth entering the market.
Perhaps too, Mr Lütke shouldn’t have divulged the fact that Shopify now process over $100 million in revenues using its tools. It is data like that which make titans like eBay salivate. eBay’s entry into the market will be branded under the title X.Commerce and it’s hard to see how Shopify will cope with retaining its customers. Things will get very interesting indeed.
Do you think eBay will eventually buy out Shopify? Share your thoughts on the possible David Vs Goliath clash below.
According to CEO and co-founder Tobias Lütke, the young company has been shattering it’s short term and medium term growth projections. In six months Shopify has grown from 10,000 storefronts to over to over 16,000 operating in over 80 countries. Employee numbers have also doubled and now sit at 80, with plans to increase staffing to 130 in the coming year. Clearly then Shopify is operating in a growth sector, which I suppose is why eBay felt that it was worth entering the market.Perhaps too, Mr Lütke shouldn’t have divulged the fact that Shopify now process over $100 million in revenues using its tools. It is data like that which make titans like eBay salivate. eBay’s entry into the market will be branded under the title X.Commerce and it’s hard to see how Shopify will cope with retaining its customers. Things will get very interesting indeed.
Do you think eBay will eventually buy out Shopify? Share your thoughts on the possible David Vs Goliath clash below.