Shopify has announced that it acquired American web framework provider Remix to bolster its own headless commerce solution.
Shopify president Harley Finkelstein revealed the deal on Twitter, saying that Shopify plans to bring Remix “under the hood” of Hydrogen, its framework tool for building storefronts.
Shopify maintains and contributes to a lot of open source software. Commerce is one of the ‘killer apps’ of the open web. We always want to contribute to making the web platform as good as it can be. Remix is a great example of this, and so we support it in the best way we can
— tobi lutke (@tobi) October 31, 2022
The initial version of Hydrogen was made available in November last year to allow merchants to build headless commerce storefronts with Shopify. Headless commerce allows companies to test and experiment with web applications with more agility and flexibility by separating the front-end and back-end of their e-commerce experiences.
Finkelstein has been keen to promote the company’s support of “commerce wherever it happens.”
“We’re taking a lot of market share away from the traditional, physical point-of-sale retail commerce platforms and they’re coming to us as well. Our job now is to explain to the world, to investors, to everyone, that Shopify is the future of commerce, wherever that happens,” he said on CNBC.
This acquisition of Remix is expected to see Shopify using Remix across different projects, and more support for Remix in Shopify’s developer platform.
Prior to the acquisition, Shopify had a connection to Remix as it used the latter’s flagship product, React Router, within Hydrogen. With the addition of Remix, Shopify said that Hydrogen will be going even deeper into the storefront toolkit, unlocking a number of new capabilities.
Led by Michael Jackson and Ryan Florence, Remix is a full stack web framework for delivering web applications. Last year, it announced $3 million in funding led by OSS Capital.
“Under Shopify’s stewardship Remix receives long-term backing and support from an established leader in commerce,” said Jackson in his blog post. “This move allows us to grow faster and sharpen our focus on performance and scalability.”
Jackson added that Remix will remain as an independent and open source framework.
“Shopify maintains and contributes to a lot of open source software. Commerce is one of the ‘killer apps’ of the open web,” said Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke in a Tweet about the acquisition. “We always want to contribute to making the web platform as good as fit can be. Remix is a great example of this, and so we support it in the best way we can.”
Shopify has been actively investing in its tech stack through investments and acquisitions in recent years, many of which have connections to its ecosystem. In July, Shopify completed its acquisition of Deliverr to expand its in-house fulfillment network, and recently invested in WATI, a Hong Kong SaaS startup that allows businesses to send personalized notifications to customers through WhatsApp.
A number of Shopify’s partnerships tend to be strategic in nature, such as its $100 million partnership with marketing automation SaaS provider Klaviyo in August, and its investment in US-based AI recommendation startup Crossing Minds.