Squarespace

Squarespace was founded in 2003 by Anthony Casalena while he was a student at the University of Maryland, initially as a blogging tool. The company is headquartered in New York City and has grown into a website building and hosting platform used by individuals, small businesses, and creative professionals.

The platform provides customizable website templates, e-commerce tools, domain registration, email marketing, and scheduling software through its acquisitions of Acuity Scheduling and Tock. Squarespace also offers an AI-assisted website builder and serves customers ranging from portfolio sites to online stores. It competes with companies such as Wix, Shopify, and GoDaddy in the website building and small business software space.

Squarespace raised venture funding from investors including General Atlantic and Accel before going public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021 through a direct listing under the ticker SQSP. In 2024, the company entered into an agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Permira in a deal valued at approximately $6.9 billion, which was completed later that year, taking Squarespace private again.