Shopify is among of group of investors in the recent financing round for United States-based customer relationship software company Loop.
Loop secured $65 million in Series B capital in a round led by CRV, along with Shopify and Renegade Partners. Existing investors FirstMark Capital, Ridge Ventures, Peterson Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau also participated.
Loop marks the latest investment for Shopify, as the Canadian e-commerce giant accelerates its acquisition and investment strategy.
The American startup offers an exchange-first returns platform for Shopify brands. Shopify has partnered with Loop for a number of years in order to reduce the cost and difficulty with returns. Satish Kanwar, Shopify’s vice president of product and acceleration, called returns “a huge part of (and problem in) the shopping experience.”
Returns are a huge part of (and problem in) the shopping experience. Excited for Shopify to be a part of @loop's Series B with @pomajp, @itsbeecher, @amishjani, and team. 🛍🔁 https://t.co/ouYfIwIuZf
— Satish Kanwar (@skanwar) July 21, 2021
Kanwar is part of a team at Shopify that has recently been highly focused on making strategic investments and acquisitions that support Shopify’s tech and help “accelerate the future of commerce.”
The notable increase in investments of late include putting capital into companies that support Shopify’s merchant ecosystem, like Tapcart and Swyft. This year alone, Shopify has also made investments in Pipe, Bench, and Co-op commerce. The company has also taken stakes in Stripe and ‘buy now-pay later’ (BNPL) retail FinTech company Affirm, both companies Shopify partners with. Affirm went public earlier this year in a $1.2 billion initial public offering (IPO), giving Shopify a nearly $2 billion windfall, and Shopify’s investment in Stripe is reported to be around $350 million.
Shopify also recently acquired the team behind Primer, an Oakland-based augmented reality home design app. The deal marked the first publicly announced acquisition from Shopify since it acquired three companies in 2019, across a span of six months.
The accelerated acquisition and investment strategy comes as Shopify has seen notable growth in revenue, income, and gross profit over the last year, bolstered by the shift to e-commerce. In the first quarter of this year, Shopify’s increased its total revenue by 110 percent year-over-year, while gross profit were up 117 percent.