Shopify has acquired Threads.com, a Sequoia-backed Slack alternative. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Threads.com team will join Shopify. Threads.com noted that after Meta launched its social network with the same name, the startup had the opportunity to sell its domains. It remains unclear if the domain was sold to Meta, Shopify, or another entity.
Threads.com launched in 2019 with $10.5 million in funding and gained attention after Meta introduced its Twitter-like social network, also named Threads. Meta had another product named Threads, an Instagram companion app, which was shut down in 2021. Despite several acquisition offers, Threads.com chose Shopify for the opportunity to innovate at scale.
Meta opted to use Threads.net because Threads.com was already owned by the business communication startup. However, many users mistakenly visited Threads.com, leading to significant app downloads. Data from analytics firm data.ai showed that Threads.com’s app saw 880,000 downloads globally on iOS between July 6 and July 12, and over a million lifetime downloads on Android.
Threads.com co-founder and CEO Rousseau Kazi highlighted the significance of the term "threads" in maintaining connections across various platforms. Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke welcomed Kazi and his team but did not detail how the product would be integrated into Shopify.
