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Mr. Lütke believes that Jet Cooper’s team of 25 developers and designers will help improve Shopify’s offerings, to the point where a each shop can look “like it was custom built by an expensive design firm.”

“When we started out, one of the most exciting things about Shopify was the stores you created with our system looked fantastic,” he said. “So you didn’t have to go with an agency and pay $10,000 to get your design going. We just set you up with something great.”

“Everything they’re doing — it’s just so obvious they care about their craft and trade, and that’s how we are too.”

While the two companies have been on friendly terms for some time, Mr. Lütke said that serious discussions only began within the past three months. As a result of the acquisition, Shopify’s existing Toronto team of 14 employees will move into Jet Cooper’s office, just south of Dundas St. on Spadina Ave.

Shopify’s vice president of growth Craig Miller will lead the combined team.

Shopify currently has about 20 people working on design and user experience at its Ottawa headquarters, which means the acquisition of Jet Cooper will essentially double the company’s strengths. The company’s total headcount now sits at 275 employees.

“Design is not just the veneer, and it’s really important to think of design as how things work. And one of the biggest challenges we have is that e-commerce is a very complex thing,” explained Mr. Lütke.

“We’ve been trying to simplify. That’s a tremendously complicated and difficult user experience task, and bringing more experts in this field will help.”