Bold raised the money from Toronto-based Whitecap Venture Partners and Round13 Capital, and intends to use it to add 200 more staff to its current workforce of 275 employees. It also plans to expand the scale of its suite of apps which provide e-commerce solutions (such as subscriptions, checkout and customer loyalty)—the majority of which cater to Shopify store owners—and its use of artificial intelligence. (Globe and Mail)

Talking point: The move is yet another indication of Shopify’s success contributing to other players in the e-commerce industry, and another vote of confidence from investors. Bold’s funding is not the largest from Shopify app suppliers: New York-based marketing service Yotpo has raised a total of US$101 million, after a US$51-million funding round it closed in November 2017. Meanwhile, Nymbl, a Wyoming-based Shopify competitor, has raised US$300,000 in pre-seed investment to fund a private beta phase. Building a business based off another company’s platform leaves you vulnerable to changes. See, for example, Diply’s heavy staff cuts after Facebook changed its algorithm, which The Logic broke news of last year. One way to hedge against over-reliance on a platform is through patents, which Bold Commerce does not appear to have at this point.