# Wix.com

Wix.com Ltd. (Hebrew: וויקס.קום, romanized: wix.com) or simply Wix is an Israeli software company, publicly listed in the US, that provides cloud-based web development services. It offers tools for creating HTML5 websites for desktop and mobile platforms using online drag-and-drop editing. Along with its headquarters and other offices in Israel, Wix also has offices in Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, the United States, Ukraine, and Singapore.
Users can add applications for social media, e-commerce, online marketing, contact forms, e-mail marketing, and community forums to their websites. The Wix website builder is built on a freemium business model, earning its revenues through premium upgrades. According to the W3Techs technology survey website, Wix is used by 2.5% of websites as of September 2023.

## History
### Corporate Affairs

Wix was founded in 2006 by Israeli developers Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan. With its main offices in Tel Aviv, Wix was backed by investors Insight Venture Partners, Mangrove Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, DAG Ventures, and Benchmark Capital.
By April 2010 Wix had 3.5 million users and raised US$10 million in Series C funding provided by Benchmark Capital and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Mangrove Capital Partners. In March 2011, Wix had 8.5 million users and raised US$40 million in Series D funding, bringing its total funding to that date to US$61 million.
By August 2013, the Wix platform had more than 34 million registered users.
On 5 November 2013, Wix had an initial public offering on NASDAQ, raising about US$127 million for the company and some share holders.
In 2016, Mark Tluszcz became the chair of the board of directors.
In 2020, Wix's revenue increased to $989 million, a 30% rise year-on-year, primarily due to the shift of businesses online during the coronavirus pandemic. The company added over 31 million new registered users in 2020, reaching a total of 196.7 million by year's end. Wix added approximately 1 million net new premium subscriptions in 2020, surpassing $1 billion in annual collections for the first time. By the end of the year, there were 5.5 million premium subscriptions, a 22% increase compared to the end of 2019.
As of their most recent reporting in June 2024, Wix has over 260 million users worldwide.

### Product development
#### 2000s

Wix entered an open beta phase in 2007 using a platform based on Adobe Flash.

#### 2010s

In June 2011, Wix launched the Facebook store module, making its first step into the social commerce trend.
In March 2012, Wix launched a new HTML5 site builder, replacing the Adobe Flash technology.
In October 2012, Wix launched an app market for users to sell applications built with the company's automated web development technology. Wix's software development kit lets app developers create and offer web apps to Wix users.
In August 2014, Wix launched Wix Hotels, a booking system for hotels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rentals that use Wix websites.
In June 2016, Wix introduced Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence), a platform that uses artificial intelligence to design websites.

#### 2020s

In 2020, Wix launched an additional CMS, EditorX, which offered additional CSS features to the original builder.
In July 2023, Wix announced that it would be building on its ADI technology to create an AI powered website generator
In October 2023, Wix launched the Wix Studio website builder. Co-founder and CEO, Avishai Abrahami described the platform as a “product for agencies”.
In March 2024 the AI web builder, which uses a chatbot to help users create content was launched to the public.

### Acquisitions

In April 2014, Wix announced the acquisition of Appixia, an Israeli startup for creating native mobile commerce (mCommerce) apps. In October 2014, Wix announced its acquisition of OpenRest, a developer of online ordering systems for restaurants.
In April 2015, Wix acquired Moment.me, a mobile website builder for events and marketing tools for social lead generation.
On 23 February 2017, Wix acquired the online art community DeviantArt for US$36 million.
In January 2017, the company acquired Flok, a provider of customer loyalty programs tools.
In February 2020, Wix acquired Inkfrog for eBay sellers, a web design company that provides customized business management software for eBay sellers.
On 2 March 2021, Wix acquired SpeedETab, a Miami-based restaurant online technology provider.
In May 2021, Wix acquired Rise.ai, a gift card and customer re-engagement package for online brands. A month later, Wix acquired Modalyst, a marketplace and drop-shipping platform.

## Description

Wix uses a freemium business model. Users can create websites for free then must purchase premium packages to connect their sites to their own domains, remove Wix ads, access the form builder, add e-commerce capabilities, or buy extra data storage and bandwidth.
Wix provides customizable website templates and a drag-and-drop HTML5 website builder that includes apps, graphics, image galleries, fonts, vectors, animations, and other options. Users also may opt to create their web sites from scratch. In October 2013, Wix introduced a mobile editor for mobile viewing customization.
Wix App Market offers both free and subscription-based applications, with a revenue split of 80% for the developer and 20% for Wix. Customers can integrate third-party applications into their own web sites, such as photograph feeds, blogging, music playlists, online community, e-mail marketing, and file management.
Custom JavaScript code can be inserted into Wix webpages using the Velo API.

## Controversies
### Use of WordPress code

In October 2016, there was a controversy over Wix's use of WordPress's GPL-licensed code. In response, Avishai Abrahami, Wix's CEO, published a response describing which open-source code was used and how Wix says it collaborates with the open-source community. However, it was subsequently noted that collaboration with the open-source community was not sufficient under the terms of the GPL license, which requires any code built on GPL-licensed code to be released under the same license.

### Censorship

On 31 May 2021, 2021 Hong Kong Charter, a Wix-hosted website run by exiled Hong Kong activists, was shut down at the request of the Hong Kong Police. This was the first known case of Hong Kong's National Security Law being used to censor content on an overseas website. Wix later apologized for "mistakenly removing the website" and reinstated the website after it had been down for four days.
In October 2023, Wix fired an employee in Dublin, Ireland after making social media posts critical of Israel. The company was previously reported to have encouraged employees to "create videos and creative campaigns" to "support Israel's narrative". This incident led to criticism of Wix from members of the Irish Parliament (Dáil Éireann) and the head of the Irish government, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who said it was "not okay to dismiss somebody because of their political views". Deputy head of government, Tánaiste Micheál Martin also condemned their dismissal, stating "we tolerate debate with freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, and people have different opinions on these issues." The dismissed employee, Courtney Carey, successfully sued the company for unfair dismissal. Wix did not contest the charge, admitting liability.

### Internal chat

In October 2023, a message in an internal company discussion encouraged employees to “show Westernity” in social media posts backing Israel, as “unlike the Gazans, we look and live like Europeans or Americans”, it said.