Workarea, WebLinc’s open-source ecommerce management product, was just acquired

Old City software product company WebLinc filled us in back in 2019 on why it decided to made its in-house ecommerce platform open source.

The Workarea software manages a client’s ecommerce platform, from selling products to managing knowledge of physical storage. Its cloud solution, Workarea Commerce Cloud, was being used by brands like Reformation, Lonely Planet and URBN’s BHLDN and Terrain.

“Our customers and partners have inspired us with what they can do on the platform,” Bill Tarbell, VP of marketing, told Technical.ly at the time. “Workarea Commerce has allowed them to build the experiences they want, faster. It’s in the spirit of making this type of innovation accessible to everyone, we have decided to go open source.”

And now, Workarea has been purchased from VTEX, a commerce platform with native marketplace and order management capabilities. The New York-based company announced the news last week, saying the deal will help “to strengthen its presence in and commitment to the U.S. and Canadian market.”

VTEX plans on leveraging Workarea’s commerce experience to scale and grow, and the Philly company will bring brands like Reformation and Sleep Number with it. Existing Workarea customers will be able to build their own marketplaces without third-party solutions, and VTEX’s distributed order management system will allow Workarea customers to improve their omnichannel capabilities, VTEX said in a statement. With the Workarea team, VTEX’s headcount is nearly 100 people.

View Partners Capital LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to WebLinc in its merger, but financial details of the deal were not disclosed. It’s the third business unit WebLinc has sold since 2019, cofounder and CEO Darren Hill said in an email.

“This last unit was 24 people,” he said.

And the company still resides in the National Mechanics building and at 100 Market St. VTEX intends to keep all staff and the Old City HQ, he added.

“We’re excited for our employees, customers and partners to have the opportunity to work with VTEX and leverage VTEX’s advanced technology and capabilities to expand their futures,” Hill said in a statement. “Together, we have a great opportunity to grow the business and better serve our customers.”