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] 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] 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 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]
In 2006, Casalena hired two full-time W2 employees, a principal designer and a customer support representative. By the time Casalena graduated in 2007, Squarespace was making annual revenues of $1 million. [7] He moved to New York City, continued 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 New York Stock Exchange 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 firmPermira in May 2024.[34] 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.[35]
Corporate affairs
Leadership
Squarespace is managed by CEO and Founder Anthony Casalena. Other key executives are:[36]
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.[32] 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]
Squarespace was initially built for creating and hosting blogs.[37] E-commerce features, such as integration with Stripe for accepting credit card payments, was added in 2013.[38]
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;
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,[41][42] 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;[43] and added an analytics dashboard[44] and PayPal integration.[45]
On June 15, 2023, Squarespace concluded an agreement to purchase the Google Domains business, including approximately 10 million registered domain names.[46][47]
