Shopify: the commerce platform company and what it does

Shopify Inc. is a Canadian commerce company whose software lets merchants run online stores, sell in physical shops and take payments from one system. Its principal executive offices are in Ottawa and New York, and its shares trade on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The company now handles a large part of online retail in the United States. Merchants on Shopify sold goods worth $378 billion in 2025, the company’s revenue rose 30 percent to $11.6 billion, and Shopify estimates its share of US e-commerce at more than 14 percent.

Overview and Founding

Shopify Inc. was incorporated on September 28, 2004. Its roots lie in an online snowboard shop that Tobi Lütke and a partner started that year, and the company released its commerce platform to other merchants in 2006.

Growth picked up in the following decade. In December 2013 Shopify raised $100 million in a round led by OMERS Ventures and Insight Venture Partners, and by late 2014 it had about 500 employees, with more than 100,000 businesses using its software.

The company describes its mission as making commerce better for everyone. Its annual report calls the business “essential internet infrastructure for commerce”.

Key Milestones

• 2004: Shopify Inc. is incorporated on September 28.
• 2006: The Shopify platform is released to merchants.
• 2013: Shopify raises $100 million in a round led by OMERS Ventures and Insight Venture Partners.
• 2015: The company lists on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange at US$17 a share, closing the offering on May 27.
• 2020: On May 21, Shopify says it will become “digital by default”, with most staff working remotely for good.
• 2022: Shopify completes its acquisition of the logistics company Deliverr.
• 2023: It sells most of its logistics business to Flexport for a 13 percent stake, completing the sale on June 6.
• 2025: Revenue reaches $11.6 billion and free cash flow about $2 billion, and the board approves a $2 billion share buyback.

What It Does

Shopify sells two kinds of service. Subscription solutions are the monthly plans merchants pay to run their stores, while merchant solutions cover payments, lending, shipping labels, point-of-sale hardware and other tools that grow with a merchant’s sales.

Payments are the largest source of income. Shopify Payments, the company’s built-in payment service, earns processing and currency conversion fees, and merchant solutions made up 76 percent of revenue in 2025.

Shop Pay, its accelerated checkout, grew its gross merchandise volume by 62 percent in 2025. Shopify also sells to large brands through its Plus plan, which includes business-to-business tools.

Growth in 2025 came from several directions. International revenue rose 36 percent, offline revenue from in-store selling rose 27 percent, and business-to-business gross merchandise volume grew 96 percent from a small base. In the fourth quarter alone, merchants sold goods worth $123.8 billion and revenue reached $3.67 billion.

The public listing in 2015 raised gross proceeds of about US$150.5 million. By May 2020, when it moved to remote work, Shopify had more than 5,000 employees.

Its merchants are spread widely. At the end of 2025 they came from more than 175 countries, with 44 percent in the United States, 31 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 16 percent in Asia Pacific, 5 percent in Canada and 5 percent in Latin America.

Online selling is also growing fast in the Kingdom, as our Saudi Arabia e-commerce statistics for 2026 show.

The company is building AI into its tools as well. In 2025 it invested in products such as Sidekick and Catalog, and it was named among early customers of Google’s workplace agent in our report on how Google Cloud launches Gemini agent.

In Numbers

• Revenue: $11.556 billion, up 30 percent (2025)
• Gross merchandise volume: $378.4 billion (2025)
• Free cash flow: $2.007 billion (2025)
• Monthly recurring revenue: $205 million (December 31, 2025)
• Employees: about 7,600 (December 31, 2025)
• Share of US e-commerce: more than 14 percent (2025)

Leadership

Tobi Lütke is founder, chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Harley Finkelstein is president, and Jeff Hoffmeister is chief financial officer.