Squarespace, Inc.
Company History
Squarespace History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 2003 in College Park, Maryland, United States
When was Squarespace founded?
Squarespace was founded in 2003 in College Park, Maryland, United States by Anthony Casalena, making it 23 years old.
- Founded
- 2003
- Founding place
- College Park, Maryland, United States
- Founders
- Anthony Casalena
- Headquarters today
- New York, New York, United States
- Milestones documented
- 11 (2003–2026)
- Current CEO
- Anthony Casalena
- Acquisitions
- 4
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2003 | Squarespace Founded in College Dorm Room |
| 2006 | Reaches $1 Million in Profitable Bootstrap Revenue |
| 2010 | $38.5M Series A Led by Accel & Index Ventures |
| 2010 | Jesse Hertzberg becomes co-CEO |
| 2014 | First Super Bowl Commercial & Squarespace 7 Launch |
| 2019 | Acquisitions of Acuity Scheduling & Unfold |
| 2021 | NYSE Direct Listing at $6.6 Billion Valuation |
| 2021 | Tock Acquired |
| 2023 | Acquisition of Google Domains Customer Portfolio |
| 2024 | $7.2 Billion Take-Private Acquisition by Permira |
| 2026 | Additional €70 Million Investment in Dublin |
- Where was Squarespace founded?
- Squarespace was founded in College Park, Maryland, United States in 2003.
- Who founded Squarespace?
- Squarespace was founded by Anthony Casalena.
- When did Squarespace start?
- Squarespace was founded in 2003.
- How old is Squarespace?
- Squarespace is 23 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
In 2003, Anthony Casalena was a college student in Maryland who just wanted to build a simple, beautiful blog. He looked at the software available and was disgusted by how highly ugly it was. Out of pure frustration, he locked himself in his dorm room and coded his own website builder from scratch. It was so elegant that his friends demanded to use it. With a $30,000 loan from his dad, he launched the company from his dorm, acting as the sole engineer, designer, and customer support agent, accidentally building a billion-dollar design empire.
Founders
Anthony Casalena
Anthony Casalena is a fiercely visionary American software engineer, highly strategic digital product designer, and the profoundly influential CEO and founding patriarch fundamentally responsible for architecting the massively dominant Squarespace website building empire. Operating as an incredibly talented computer science student in his dorm room at the University of Maryland in 2003, Casalena aggressively recognized the massive, agonizingly disjointed friction of attempting to build a beautiful website using highly fragmented hosting and disparate software tools. He relentlessly launched Squarespace as a fully integrated, incredibly aesthetic all-in-one platform. By fiercely prioritizing massive design elegance and aggressively engineering highly robust, scalable cloud infrastructure, his absolutely rigorous strategic leadership completely revolutionized the global digital publishing industry. His massive corporate execution permanently established an absolute multi-billion dollar SaaS monopoly. Anthony Casalena was born in 1982.
Key Milestones
Squarespace Founded in College Dorm Room
Anthony Casalena coded Squarespace 1.0 from his University of Maryland dorm room with a $30,000 loan from his father.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgReaches $1 Million in Profitable Bootstrap Revenue
Bootstrapped to $1 million in annual revenue as a solo operation, managing coding, servers, and customer support single-handedly.
Source: en.wikipedia.org$38.5M Series A Led by Accel & Index Ventures
Closed its first outside institutional funding round after seven years of profitable solo bootstrapping.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgJesse Hertzberg becomes co-CEO
Jesse Hertzberg became co-CEO of Squarespace in 2010. Jesse Hertzberg served as a key executive during Squarespace's formative high-growth years, leading operational scaling, business development, and customer operations that were vital to expanding the platform's user base globally.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgFirst Super Bowl Commercial & Squarespace 7 Launch
Debuted its well-known 'A Better Web Awaits' Super Bowl ad and rolled out Squarespace 7 with live preview editing.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAcquisitions of Acuity Scheduling & Unfold
Expanded into appointment booking and mobile creator storytelling through strategic acquisitions.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgNYSE Direct Listing at $6.6 Billion Valuation
Listed directly on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol SQSP, crossing $780M in revenue.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgTock Acquired
Squarespace bought the restaurant reservation company Tock in March 2021 for more than $400 million.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAcquisition of Google Domains Customer Portfolio
Acquired Google Domains assets, migrating approximately 10 million registered domains onto Squarespace Domains.
Source: en.wikipedia.org$7.2 Billion Take-Private Acquisition by Permira
Permira completed an all-cash $7.2B acquisition, returning Squarespace to private ownership to drive AI innovation.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAdditional €70 Million Investment in Dublin
Announced a further ~$79.1 million (€70 million) investment in Ireland with IDA Ireland on September 23, 2026.
Source: siliconrepublic.comMajor Acquisitions
Google Domains Asset Portfolio
2023Acquired the domain registration business and customer accounts of Google Domains.
Tock
2021Acquired the premier hospitality reservation, table management, and event ticketing platform.
Acuity Scheduling
2019Acquired leading online appointment scheduling and calendar management software.
Unfold
2019Acquired viral mobile social media storytelling and template design application.
Keep researching Squarespace
Squarespace Company History FAQ
When, where, and by whom was Squarespace originally founded?
Squarespace was founded in 2003 by Anthony Casalena in his dorm room at the University of Maryland, College Park. Casalena was studying computer science and grew frustrated that existing web publishing platforms (like Blogger and Movable Type) were poorly designed, fragmented, and lacked integrated web hosting.
How did Anthony Casalena fund Squarespace during its initial years?
Casalena initially bootstrapped the business with a $30,000 loan from his parents to purchase servers. For several years, he operated Squarespace as a solo founder, acting as sole programmer, designer, database administrator, and customer support specialist, bootstrapping the company to over $1 million in annual revenue before hiring his first employee.
When did Squarespace take its first outside institutional venture capital?
After seven years of profitable bootstrapping, Squarespace accepted its first institutional venture capital round in July 2010, raising $38.5 million in Series A funding led by Accel Partners and Index Ventures. The capital allowed Casalena to hire executive leadership and relocate to a dedicated headquarters in Manhattan, New York.
What made Squarespace's Super Bowl advertising strategy famous?
Beginning in 2014, Squarespace became one of the first tech platforms to invest heavily in cinematic Super Bowl commercials. Featuring A-list celebrities and directors—including Jeff Bridges ("Sleeping Tapes"), Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Zendaya, and Martin Scorsese—these commercials established Squarespace as the premier design-forward brand for creative entrepreneurs.
When did Squarespace go public on Wall Street?
On May 19, 2021, Squarespace completed a direct listing of its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SQSP, opening with a market capitalization of approximately $6.6 billion without utilizing traditional underwritten IPO banks.
What was the landmark Google Domains acquisition in 2023?
In June 2023, Squarespace announced the acquisition of Google Domains from Google/Alphabet for approximately $180 million. The historic transaction transferred roughly 10 million registered domain names and millions of customer accounts from Google to Squarespace, instantly making Squarespace one of the largest domain registrars in the world.
What notable software acquisitions did Squarespace complete before going private?
Key acquisitions included Acuity Scheduling in 2019 (automated appointment scheduling for service businesses), Unfold in 2019 (mobile social media story design templates), and restaurant hospitality reservation platform Tock in 2021 for over $400 million (which was subsequently sold to American Express in 2024).
What was the $7.2 billion Permira take-private transaction in 2024?
In May 2024, global private equity firm Permira reached an agreement to acquire Squarespace in an all-cash transaction valued at $6.9 billion ($44.00 per share), which was raised to $46.50 per share (~$7.2 billion) following shareholder negotiations. The transaction closed in October 2024, de-listing Squarespace from the NYSE.
Did Anthony Casalena remain CEO following the Permira buyout?
Yes. Anthony Casalena rolled over a substantial portion of his personal equity stake into the privatized company and remained Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, partnering with Permira to pursue long-term product innovation away from public market scrutiny.
What is Fluid Engine and how did it change Squarespace's editor?
Launched in July 2022, Fluid Engine was Squarespace's largest website editing overhaul in a decade. Built on a flexible grid system, it enabled freeform drag-and-drop customization, overlapping page elements, and independent mobile-specific viewport layouts without requiring custom CSS or HTML.
Where is Squarespace's global corporate headquarters located?
Squarespace is headquartered at 8 Clarkson Street in the historic West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, occupying a landmark converted manufacturing building designed with a minimalist black-and-white architectural aesthetic reflecting the brand.
How did Squarespace support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic?
During the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, millions of restaurants, fitness studios, and local boutiques transitioned to online commerce. Squarespace launched curbside pickup tools, digital gift cards, member-only paywalled areas, and virtual appointment booking, driving record subscriber growth.
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