Product development

Wix was founded in 2006 by Israeli developers Avishai Abrahami, Nadav Abrahami, and Giora Kaplan.^[9] 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.^[10] The company entered an open beta phase in 2007 using a platform based on Adobe Flash.^[11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13]

In June 2011, Wix launched the Facebook store module, making its first step into the social commerce trend.^[14] In March 2012, Wix launched a new HTML5 site builder, replacing the Adobe Flash technology.^[15][16] 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.^[17]

By August 2013, the Wix platform had more than 34 million registered users.^[18]

In May 2014, Wix launched the WixHive API for websites to capture and share visitor data (such as contact information, messages, purchases and bookings) with other installed apps within the same web site.^[19]

In August 2014, Wix launched Wix Hotels, a booking system for hotels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rentals which use Wix websites.^[20] Wix Music was launched in 2015 as a platform for independent musicians to market and sell their music.^[21] Wix Restaurants was launched in 2016.^[22]

In December 2017, Wix Code, an API for adding database collections and custom JavaScript scripting, was released.^[23] In March 2020, Wix Code was re-branded to Corvid API,^[24] and then in January 2021 re-branded from Corvid to Velo, to avoid resemblance to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.^[25]

In December 2018, Wix launched Ascend by Wix,^[26] a suite of 20 products for business management and promotion using the Wix web development platform.

In November 2019, Wix introduced Wix Fitness,^[27] a software package for fitness business promotion and customer relationship management.

In February 2020, Wix unveiled Editor X,^[28] a new platform for designers and web agencies.

As of June 2020, with the continuous improvement to its features updates and releases,^[29] Wix said it had more than 180 million registered users from 190 countries around the world.^[30]

At the end of 2020, and as a result of Adobe's decision to end their support for the Flash Player,^[31] Wix stopped allowing their users to create websites in the Flash Editor as well as getting support for the Flash sites and deleting all the Flash sites,^[32] thus officially ending the life of Wix's first product.

In 2021, Wix partnered with Vistaprint^[33] and then partnered with LegalZoom^[34] a year later to improve support for starting small businesses.

By 2022, the Wix platform had more than 220 million registered users worldwide.^[35]

In May 2023, Wix introduced Wix Headless, a package for integrating Wix's other software across various platforms using its APIs and SDKs. The launch of Wix Headless signifies a strategic shift by Wix to cater to professional web developers and larger businesses needing more customization and flexibility.^[36]

IPO and acquisitions

On 5 November 2013, Wix had an initial public offering on NASDAQ, raising about US$127 million for the company and some share holders.^[37]

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.^[38][39]

On 23 February 2017, Wix acquired the online art community DeviantArt for US$36 million.^[40]

In February 2020, Wix acquired Inkfrog for eBay sellers.^[41]

On 2 March 2021, Wix acquired SpeedETab,^[42] a Miami-based restaurant online technology provider.

In May 2021, Wix acquired Rise.ai,^[43] a gift card and customer re-engagement package for online brands. A month later, Wix acquired Modalyst,^[44] a marketplace and drop-shipping platform.

Use of WordPress code

In October 2016, there was a controversy over Wix's use of WordPress's GPL-licensed code.^[55] 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.^[56] 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.^[57]

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.^[58][59]

Israel-Palestinian conflict

In October 2023, Wix fired an employee in Dublin, Ireland after making social media posts critical of Israel. The company was previously reported to encouraged employees to "create videos and creative campaigns" to "support Israel's narrative".^[60] 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".^[60][61] 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."^[62]