Merchants use the Silicon Valley firm’s software to design e-commerce pages backed by platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and Salesforce; clients include direct-to-consumer brands Leesa and Chubbies. Shogun will use the new capital for product development and to expand its 71-person staff, 12 of whom are based in Canada. (The Logic)

Talking point: Use of Shogun’s tools spiked 50 per cent month over month in April, CEO Finbarr Taylor told The Logic, part of a wider surge of new merchants and legacy retailers launching e-commerce operations as consumers do more of their shopping online during the pandemic. For example, new-store additions rose 71 per cent on Shopify, which Taylor said “the vast majority” of his customers use. Shogun serves higher-end merchants dissatisfied with e-commerce platforms’ existing pagebuilder tools, and Taylor said he wasn’t worried about those partners simply upgrading their own tech to push his out. “Shopify is trying to solve a lot of different problems—they are becoming a bank, they are becoming a third party logistics provider,” he said; Shogun can focus on its core functionality. It’s the latest in a string of raises by Shopify app makers, including Winnipeg-based Bold Commerce’s $22-million round in January 2019.