Shopify has made an investment into United States-based Triple Whale’s Series B round as the e-commerce giant continues to fund companies that support the Shopify merchant system.
Triple Whale’s data platform allows Shopify store owners to unify their business metrics into one dashboard. The company said this helps merchants locate key metrics and insights into the performance of their advertising campaigns.
“We initially built Triple Whale to help us sell more, but immediately realized that we could help thousands of other entrepreneurs in our same position.”
The Series B financing comes from venture capital firms NFX and Elephant, with “strategic participation from Shopify,” according to Triple Whale. The amount for Shopify’s contribution in Triple Whale’s Series B round has not been disclosed.
Triple Whale represents one of the latest additions to Shopify’s investment portfolio, which largely focuses on funding the companies that support the Shopify merchant ecosystem.
In October 2022, Hong Kong-based customer engagement software provider WATI announced that it raised $23 million USD in Series B funding with participation from Shopify. WATI’s platform is built on WhatsApp’s Business API, and allows business owners to send personalized notifications to customers from their system.
Other companies that Shopify has backed include Toronto digital logistics startup Swyft, as well as Loop, an American startup offering an exchange-first returns platform for Shopify brands.
Shopify holds the potential to make profit from these strategic investments. Shopify was one of the beneficiaries of ‘buy-now-pay-later’ company Affirm, which went public on Nasdaq in January 2021. At the time of its IPO, Shopify owned over 20 million shares of Affirm, worth approximately $2 billion.
In addition to funds, Shopify has acquired several companies as part of its strategy to bolster its merchant support ecosystem. This includes San Francisco-based shipping services provider Deliverr, as well as New York B2B commerce wholesale platform Handshake.
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Triple Whale was founded in 2021 by former e-commerce business owners and startup founders Maxx Blank, AJ Orbach, and Ivan Chernykh. Prior to starting Triple Whale, Blank established businesses that helped college students find deals and campus housing, as well as a women’s fashion brand. Orbach founded group management platform Webbing.me, where Chernykh worked as a full stack engineer.
“When AJ and I built our first two e-commerce stores, we had zero visibility into which channels were helping drive revenue and which were a total waste of money,” explained Blank. “We initially built Triple Whale to help us sell more, but immediately realized that we could help thousands of other entrepreneurs in our same position.”
Since Triple Whale was created, its client base has grown to over 5,000 brands using its platform, including True Classic, Obvi, and Portland Leather Goods. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, the company also has hubs in Austin, North Carolina, and Jerusalem.
Last year, Triple Whale announced it closed a $24 million Series A round led by Elephant, and a previously undisclosed $2.7 million seed round led by NFX. It also raised an additional $1 million with participation from San Francisco-based entrepreneur and investor Shaan Puri.
Triple Whale said that it plans to use this funding to “keep up with customer demand … expand to larger brands, and double-down on its investment into [artificial intelligence] and automation.”