Ottawa’s Shopify raises $7 Million Series A Funding from Bessemer, FirstMark, and Felicis

Ottawa-based online-retail SaaS platform Shopify announced today it has secured $7 Million in Series A funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital and Felicis Ventures.

“Shopify has developed a breakthrough SaaS platform that makes it incredibly simple for retailers to create truly standout, easy-to-launch businesses online,” said Alex Ferrara, a Bessemer partner who will be joining Shopify’s board. “Shopify’s app store and its open APIs exemplify the continuing ‘consumer-ization’ of enterprise software, and the ease with which even small and mid-sized businesses can now offer a sophisticated online retail experience.”

Shopify makes it simple for smaller sellers with little or no programming skills to set up an online shop in just a few minutes. Each Shopify storefront is customizable and gives the user control over a shop’s look and feel, in addition to setting up a streamlined checkout and the ability to easily integrate PayPal or a credit-card processor for payments.

Shopify employs a dedicated team of security experts to ensure each storefront meets the highest possible security requirements. The Shopify App Store is a collection of Shopify apps that can extend the functionality of the online store, and has brand name apps such as Quickify, Chimpified, Hubspot, and Vurve.

Shopify currently processes over $100M in revenue for customers as diverse as General Electric, Tesla Motors, Amnesty International and the Foo Fighters.

Shopify will use the proceeds to invest in the growth of the company, including product development and international expansion. The company also plans to invest in its technology, infrastructure and developer tools. Shopify is committed to attracting the best app developers to its platform, giving them access to thousands of retailers.