Squarespace Explained

Squarespace, Inc.
Company Type:Public
Headquarters:225 Varick Street
New York City, New York,
United States
Area Served:Worldwide
Founder:Anthony Casalena
Ceo:Anthony Casalena
Industry:Internet
Products:Website builder and hosting service
Num Employees:1,749 (2023)
Website Type:SaaS-based hosting platform
Revenue: (2023)[1]
Registration:Required; subscription needed for certain features.

Squarespace, Inc. is an American website building and hosting company based in New York City.[2] It provides software as a service for website building and hosting, and allows users to use pre-built website templates and drag-and-drop elements to create and modify webpages.

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] 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] 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] 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] [10] That year, Squarespace received $38.5 million in its first round of venture capital funding led by Index Ventures and Accel Partners,[12] enabling it to hire more staff, continue to develop its software,[13] and double its marketing budget.[5] From 2009 to 2012, it grew an average of 266% in yearly revenue.[14] In April 2014, it received another $40 million in funding.[15] [16] By 2015, it had reached $100 million in revenue and 550 employees.[7]

Squarespace purchased Super Bowl advertising spots in 2014,[17] [5] 2015,[18] 2016,[19] 2017[20] and 2018.[21] Its 2017 ad won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.[20] In 2017, it signed a sponsorship deal with the New York Knicks to add the Squarespace logo to their uniforms.[22]

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.[23] [24] In 2017, it raised an additional $200 million in funding, boosting its value to $1.7 billion.[25] This funding was earmarked for reacquiring interests from investors.[25]

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).[26]

Squarespace acquired appointment scheduling company Acuity Scheduling in April 2019.[27] In October 2019, Squarespace acquired Unfold, an app founded by Alfonso Cobo that allows users to editorialize their social media content.[28] In April 2021, the company bought hospitality industry management platform Tock for more than $400 million.[29]

In early 2021, the company filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public through direct listing on the NYSE under the symbol SQSP.[30] [31] [32] In March 2021, Squarespace raised $300 million in a round of funding led by Dragoneer, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners and Fidelity Management & Research Company with participation from existing investors. This funding round valued the company at $10 billion.[33]

Squarespace agreed to be acquired for $6.9 billion and taken private by British private equity firm Permira in May 2024.[34]

Corporate affairs

Leadership

Squarespace is managed by CEO and Founder Anthony Casalena. Other key executives are:[35]

Product / business model

As of November 2022, Squarespace had more than four million subscriptions. Its users employ pre-built website templates, and a variety of drag and drop widgets to add elements such as text and images.[13] Its developers also create custom templates that are sold to users.[13] 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,[36] Wix.com,[37] Webflow.com,[38] Weebly, Pixpa, Strikingly[39] and other digital website building agencies.[40]

Squarespace was initially built for creating and hosting blogs.[41] E-commerce features, such as integration with Stripe for accepting credit card payments, was added in 2013.[42] 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;[43] and a logo-creation app was introduced in partnership with icon designer Noun Project.[44]

In 2011, Squarespace was upgraded to version 6, with new templates, a grid-based user interface, and other enhancements.[13] Version 7, which went live in 2014, replaced its coding backend with a drag and drop interface,[45] [46] and added integration with Google Workspace (formerly G Suite and Google Apps for Work) and Getty Images.[16] In 2016, Squarespace started selling domains, putting it in more direct competition with GoDaddy;[47] and added an analytics dashboard[48] and PayPal integration.[49]

On June 15, 2023, Squarespace concluded an agreement to purchase the Google Domains business, including approximately 10 million registered domain names.[50] [51]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Squarespace 2023 Annual Report (Form 10-K). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 28, 2024.
  2. Web site: July 31, 2018 . Squarespace Offices / A+I . January 30, 2021 . . en-US.
  3. Web site: Giles . Margaret . May 19, 2021 . What to Know as Squarespace Goes Public . May 19, 2021 . Morningstar.com . en-US.
  4. Web site: Usage statistics and market share of Squarespace . March 11, 2022 . w3techs.com . en-US.
  5. Web site: Cole . Samantha . May 21, 2014 . How Squarespace's CEO Pivoted to Scale for Millions . January 7, 2018 . Fast Company . en-US.
  6. News: About Us - Squarespace .
  7. Web site: Clifford . Catherine . How Squarespace Went From a Dorm-Room Project to a $10 Million Web Publishing Platform . Entrepreneur . April 22, 2016 . January 7, 2018.
  8. Web site: February 1, 2014. UMD Alumnus Company Squarespace to Run Inaugural Big Game Ad. January 30, 2021. UMD Right Now :: University of Maryland. en.
  9. Web site: June 30, 2016. Dan. Patterson. How Squarespace became a multimillion dollar publishing giant. January 30, 2021. TechRepublic. en.
  10. Web site: Evelyn . Rusli . Squarespace Raises $38.5 Million From Accel, Index Ventures . TechCrunch . July 13, 2010 . January 7, 2018.
  11. News: Squarespace Lets Users Manage Multi-Page Web Sites. September 13, 2004. Andrea. Caumont. The Washington Post.
  12. Web site: Squarespace Raises $38.5 Million From Accel, Index Ventures. January 30, 2021. TechCrunch. en-US.
  13. Web site: Squarespace 6: Rebuilt From The Ground Up To Take On WordPress, Tumblr And Everyone Else . TechCrunch . October 21, 2011 . January 7, 2018.
  14. News: Fast 50. Crain’s New York Business. October 7, 2013.
  15. Web site: Zipkin. Nina. February 15, 2018. The Founder of Squarespace Explains Why You Don't Want to Raise As Much Money as Possible. January 30, 2021. Entrepreneur. en.
  16. News: Squarespace Ramps up its Tools to Compete with Wordpress. Mashable. Christina. Warren. October 7, 2014.
  17. Web site: UMD Alumnus Company Squarespace to Run Inaugural Big Game Ad. January 30, 2021. research.umd.edu. en.
  18. Stampler . Laura . This Super Bowl Ad Purposely Wants to Put You to Sleep . Time . January 28, 2015 . January 26, 2018.
  19. Web site: Key and Peele turn Squarespace's Super Bowl ad into an event . USA TODAY . January 1, 2016 . January 26, 2018.
  20. Web site: Squarespace's Super Bowl Ad With John Malkovich Wins the Emmy for Best Commercial . AdWeek . September 11, 2017 . January 26, 2018.
  21. Web site: Poggi . Jeanine . Squarespace's Super Bowl Ad Is Just Keanu Standing on a Motorcycle . AdAge . January 31, 2018 . February 13, 2018.
  22. Web site: Soshnick . Scott . Knicks Team Up With Squarespace for Patch Sponsorship Deal . Bloomberg.com . October 10, 2017 . February 13, 2018.
  23. News: Website host Squarespace to remove a 'group of sites' after violence at Charlottesville white nationalist rally . Washington Post . August 17, 2017 . January 7, 2018.
  24. Web site: Squarespace won't host your racist websites, either . CNET . July 23, 2014 . January 7, 2018.
  25. Web site: Vynck . Gerrit De . Squarespace Raises Funding at $1.7 Billion Valuation . Bloomberg.com . December 14, 2017 . January 7, 2018.
  26. Web site: The New York Knicks and Squarespace Announce Second Annual "Make It Awards" – The Madison Square Garden Company. www.themadisonsquaregardencompany.com. August 16, 2019.
  27. News: Ha . Anthony . Squarespace makes its first acquisition with Acuity Scheduling . . April 23, 2019.
  28. News: Ha . Anthony . Squarespace acquires social media authoring startup Unfold . . October 22, 2019.
  29. News: Roof . Katie . Squarespace Buys Tech Startup Tock for $400 Million Plus . . April 1, 2021.
  30. News: January 27, 2021. Squarespace confidentially files for stock market listing. en. Reuters. January 30, 2021.
  31. Web site: Website-building company Squarespace confidentially files to go public. January 30, 2021. Business Insider.
  32. News: Novet . Jordan . Website maker Squarespace files to go public on NYSE through direct listing . . April 16, 2021 . en.
  33. News: Azevedo . Mary Ann . Squarespace raises $300M at a staggering $10B valuation . . March 16, 2021.
  34. News: Software company Squarespace being taken private by Permira in $6.9 billion deal . May 13, 2024 . Associated Press.
  35. Web site: Our Team. Squarespace. January 9, 2020.
  36. Web site: Squarespace vs. WordPress.com: Which Is Best for Easy Website Creation?. January 30, 2021. PCMAG. en.
  37. Web site: Brussel. Joe Van. Best website builder for 2021: Squarespace, Wix and more compared. January 30, 2021. CNET. en.
  38. Web site: Webflow vs. Squarespace: Head to Head Comparison in 2022 Flowout Flowout . 2022-06-29 . www.flowout.com . en.
  39. Web site: 14 Squarespace Alternatives & Why You Need One . 2023-03-22 . blog.hubspot.com . en.
  40. Web site: September 9, 2016. The Difference Between Squarespace and a Web Design Agency. January 30, 2021. Whitehat Blog. english.
  41. Web site: How Squarespace became a multimillion-dollar publishing giant . TechRepublic . June 30, 2016 . January 7, 2018.
  42. Web site: Summers . Nick . Squarespace Adds Commerce Tools To Its Website Builder . The Next Web . February 14, 2013 . January 7, 2018.
  43. Web site: Novet . Jordan . Don't forget about website runner Squarespace. It just raised $40M . VentureBeat . April 16, 2014 . January 7, 2018.
  44. Web site: Brownlee . John . Squarespace Makes Designing A Logo Dead Simple . Co.Design . January 22, 2014 . February 13, 2018.
  45. News: Tim. Nudd. Adweek. October 20, 2014. Squarespace's Radical Update Is Like a Blank Canvas. So Its New Ads Are, Too .
  46. Margaret. Rhodes. Wired. The New Squarespace is a UX Dream that Eliminates the Backend Entirely. October 7, 2014.
  47. Web site: Ungerleider . Neal . Now Competing To Be The Master Of Your Domain: Squarespace . Fast Company . April 15, 2016 . January 7, 2018.
  48. Web site: Ha . Anthony . Squarespace introduces new analytics for its commerce-focused customers . TechCrunch . June 14, 2016 . January 7, 2018.
  49. Web site: Squarespace businesses can now accept PayPal . The Next Web . November 1, 2016 . February 13, 2018.
  50. Web site: Li . Abner . 2023-06-15 . Google Domains shutting down, assets sold and being migrated to Squarespace . 2023-06-15 . . en-US.
  51. Squarespace Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire Google Domains Assets. . 2023-06-15 . PR Newswire . https://web.archive.org/web/20230615211058/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/squarespace-enters-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-google-domains-assets-301852507.html . 2023-06-15 . live. 2023-06-15.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Squarespace".

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