Tictail, the Swedish tech company that offers a combination between a DIY e-commerce platform and a social shopping experience for buyers, has been acquired by its much larger, publicly-listed competitor Shopify.
The news, first reported by Breakit, was confirmed by users who received messages about Tictail joining Shopify when logging in.
We have contacted Shopify and Tictail for more information, but haven't heard back yet.
Update: this is the official word from Tictail:
"Thank you for reaching out. We’re really excited to share the news that Tictail is joining Shopify! While Shopify does not comment on individual acquisitions, they do periodically acquire companies, to bring specific talent or technology into the organization to complement and enhance their existing offerings."
It doesn't look like this is the preferred outcome for Tictail's founders and investors though, as it appears the platform will be shut down/transitioned to the Shopify platform by April 2019. Neither Tictail or Shopify has shared an official release on the acquisition/merger at publication time, let alone disclose financial deal info. It certainly looks like a fire sale to me.
Tictail had raised close to $33 million in funding from the likes of Balderton Capital, Thrive Capital, Creandum and Project A. Founded in 2012, it quickly became one of the hottest startups coming out of Stockholm, but the quick growth was followed by a couple of tough recent years.
Shopify, on the other hand, currently powers over 600,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries and booked more than $270 million in revenue last quarter. Interestingly, in the context of the acquisition, the Canadian company recently expanded to Germany with help from Swedish payments leader Klarna.
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