Squarespace, Inc. (SQSP)

Squarespace offers an all-in-one platform for building websites, online stores, and a brand's online presence. Customers use its design templates and tools to create sites, register domains, sell products, schedule appointments, and run email marketing. It mostly serves small businesses, creators, and individuals, who pay subscription fees, and it also earns transaction fees on commerce. Its restaurant reservation business, Tock, and its domains business broadened the offering.

Anthony Casalena started Squarespace in 2003 from his dorm room at the University of Maryland, and the company later moved to New York City. It grew without outside money for years and became well known through heavy consumer advertising, including Super Bowl commercials. Investors such as General Atlantic and Accel came in later, and a 2021 funding round valued the company at about $10 billion.

Squarespace went public through a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange on May 19, 2021, under SQSP. It bought Tock in 2021 and in 2023 took over Google Domains' customer accounts, which made it one of the largest domain registrars. Revenue kept growing, but the shares spent most of their public life below the reference price set at the listing.

In May 2024 Permira agreed to take Squarespace private at $44 per share, and it raised the price to $46.50 per share in September after shareholder pushback. The deal closed on October 17, 2024, valuing the company at about $7.2 billion. Casalena stayed on as CEO and rolled over a large stake, and the stock was delisted from the NYSE.