Shopify’s Tobi Lütke has been recognized with the Canadian Venture Capital Association’s 2016 Entrepreneur Of The Year Award.
OMERS Ventures’ Jim Orlando, who nominated Lütke for the award, said that Shopify’s IPO was a significant tech highlight for Canada’s overall VC story.
OMERS Ventures led the company’s $100 million Series C round back in 2013. “We are so proud to have been a part of this journey with Tobi and the great team he has built around him,” said Orlando.
Currently, Shopify powers 240,000 stores, and has been swift in establishing itself in emerging technology like chat bot assistants and mobile.
“Tobi, and the vision he had for Shopify, has always been symbolic of the future of Canada,” said Orlando. “He was able to build an incredible product, right in the heart of the massive transformation the retail and commerce sector is going through. It hasn’t been easy, but Tobi proved to Canada, perhaps when we needed it the most, that long-term sustainability for a growing tech company is possible—and that they will be the acquirers, not the acquired.”