In 2003, Anthony Casalena founded Squarespace as a blog hosting service while attending the University of Maryland, College Park. He was its only employee until 2006 when it reached $1 million in revenue. The company grew from 30 employees in 2010 to 550 by 2015. By 2014, it raised a total of $78.5 million in venture capital; added e-commerce tools, domain name services, and analytics; and replaced its coding backend with drag-and-drop features. It began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 19, 2021,[3] and was taken private by Permira in October 2024. According to W3Techs, Squarespace is used by 1.9% of the top 10 million websites.[4]
History
Casalena began developing Squarespace for his personal use while attending the University of Maryland.[5][6] He started sharing it with friends and family members[5] and participated in a "business incubator" program at the university.[6] In January 2004, he launched Squarespace as do it yourself/drag and drop website builder for the public,[6][7] with a $30,000 seed fund from his father,[8] a small grant from the university,[9] and 300 beta testers who paid a discounted rate.[6][10][11][12] At that time, Casalena was the company's sole developer and employee, and worked out of his dorm room.[6][11]
By the time Casalena graduated in 2007, Squarespace was making annual revenues of $1 million.[7] He moved to New York City, began hiring, and had 30 employees by 2010.[7][12] That year, Squarespace received $38.5 million in its first round of venture capital funding led by Index Ventures and Accel Partners,[13] enabling it to hire more staff, continue to develop its software,[14] and double its marketing budget.[5] From 2009 to 2012, it grew an average of 266% in yearly revenue.[15] In April 2014, it received another $40 million in funding.[16][17] By 2015, it had reached $100 million in revenue and 550 employees.[7]
Squarespace purchased Super Bowl advertising spots in 2014,[18][5] 2015,[19] 2016,[20] 2017[21] and 2018.[22] Its 2017 ad won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.[21] In 2017, it signed a sponsorship deal with the New York Knicks to add the Squarespace logo to their uniforms.[23]
After the Unite the Right rally in 2017, Squarespace received a petition with 58,000 signatures and removed a group of websites for violating its terms of service against "bigotry or hatred" towards demographic groups.[24][25] In 2017, it raised an additional $200 million in funding, boosting its value to $1.7 billion.[26] This funding was earmarked for reacquiring interests from investors.[26]
In 2018, Squarespace partnered with the Madison Square Garden Company to launch the "Make It Awards", which awarded $30,000 to entrepreneurs (4 winners, totaling $120,000).[27]
Squarespace acquired appointment scheduling company Acuity Scheduling in April 2019.[28] In October 2019, Squarespace acquired Unfold, an app founded by Alfonso Cobo that allows users to editorialize their social media content.[29] In April 2021, the company bought hospitality industry management platform Tock for more than $400 million.[30]
Squarespace agreed to be acquired for $6.9 billion and taken private by British private equity firmPermira in May 2024.[35] Permira increased its offer to $7.2 billion after the proxy advisory firmInstitutional Shareholder Services recommended that Squarespace shareholders reject the original offer, which undervalued the company. The acquisition was finalized in October 2024.[36]
Corporate affairs
Leadership
Squarespace is managed by CEO and Founder Anthony Casalena. Other key executives are:[37]
Roberta Meo, Vice President, Channels and Services
Dan Chandre, Vice President, Head of Acuity Scheduling & Squarespace Payments
Matthew Tucker, Senior Vice President, Head of Tock
Product / business model
As of November 2022, Squarespace had more than four million subscriptions.[33] Its users employ pre-built website templates, and a variety of drag and drop widgets to add elements such as text and images.[14] Its developers also create custom templates that are sold to users.[14] On-screen instructions walk users through things like search engine optimization and setting up e-commerce.[7] Its services are in direct competition with WordPress.com,[38]Wix.com,[39]Webflow.com,[40]Weebly, Pixpa, Strikingly[41] and other digital website building agencies.[42]
Squarespace was initially built for creating and hosting blogs.[10] E-commerce features, such as integration with Stripe for accepting credit card payments, was added in 2013.[43] In 2014, more commerce features were added; a mobile version of the service was released; a separate facility was added for developers writing custom templates and features;[44] and a logo-creation app was introduced in partnership with icon designer Noun Project.[45]
In 2011, Squarespace was upgraded to version 6, with new templates, a grid-based user interface, and other enhancements.[14] Version 7, which went live in 2014, replaced its coding backend with a drag and drop interface,[46][47] and added integration with Google Workspace (formerly G Suite and Google Apps for Work) and Getty Images.[17] In 2016, Squarespace started selling domains, putting it in more direct competition with GoDaddy;[48] and added an analytics dashboard[49] and PayPal integration.[50]
On June 15, 2023, Squarespace concluded an agreement to purchase the Google Domains business, including approximately 10 million registered domain names.[51][52]
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