Shopify is adding some fresh Canadian talent to its team following the acquisition of Waterloo-based Boltmade.
Boltmade’s 21 product design and development staff will be incorporated into the Shopify Plus operation in Waterloo.
The two companies first crossed paths earlier this year when they collaborated on a dashboard product, said Loren Padelford, the vice-president of Shopify Plus (the ecommerce company’s feature-enhanced product for high-volume customers).
“We recognized the talent right away, and the way they went through the project, the type of work they did, the quality of the work they did was just really high caliber,” he said.
Boltmade boasted clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, though Padelford said they won’t be part of the acquisition as a majority of Boltmade’s work is project-based.
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“For us, this was about acquiring a great team, not necessarily their customers, so they’ll work off the last few contracts that they have and become 100% focused on the Shopify Plus customer base,” he said.
While Padelford could not disclose the terms of the agreement, he said the acquisition was largely motivated by a need to add more engineering and user experience design talent to the Plus platform.
“With Shopify Plus now extending into more complex customers we’re absolutely going to use that talent to help us build the best features and product in the world,” he said. “Our customers will absolutely see the benefit of that over time.”
The company’s exclusive Shopify Plus offering targets high growth, high volume customers, providing them with additional features such as dedicated account management personnel, a customizable checkout process and other add-on services.
Such services are intended for “bigger, more complicated merchants who are doing much higher volumes of sales,” said Padelford, adding that the current roster includes brands like General Electric, Budweiser and RedBull, as well as celebrities like the Kardashians, Kanye West and Drake. “We’re building out a team here in Waterloo that serves those customers worldwide, and it’s growing quickly, which is why we did this acquisition. There’s a lot of opportunity there, and we’re trying to build a team to support it.”
