The dynamic but money-losing Ottawa startup firm Shopify plans to launch its service on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges. The company says it intends to raise as much as $100-million, but has yet to set a firm figure or a share price, it says in a regulatory filing. It seeks to be listed as SHOP on the New York Stock Exchange, and SH on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shopify provides a cloud-based commerce platform for small and medium-sized businesses, has been growing rapidly and raised $100 million in venture capital last year. Shopify was started in 2006 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake to sell snowboards online. Now, the company has about 500 employees, with offices in Ottawa, Montreal, Kitchener and Toronto. Growth in revenue has been astonishing — doubling from $23.7 million in 2012, to $50.3 million in 2013 and to $105 million in 2014. It loses money however, a circumstance not too fully explored in news stories today but maybe related to the cost of growth including staff.
