Tobi Lütke
About Tobi Lütke
Tobi Lütke was born in Koblenz, Germany, and completed an apprenticeship in computer programming there. He moved to Canada in 2002. In 2004 he launched Snowdevil, an online snowboard shop in Ottawa, with Scott Lake and Daniel Weinand.
Existing e-commerce software did not suit the shop, so Lütke built his own on Ruby on Rails. The software drew more interest than the snowboards. The founders launched it as Shopify in 2006. He has been CEO since 2008, and Shopify went public in 2015.
Lütke is a Canadian and German citizen. He also sits on the board of Coinbase, which announced his appointment in January 2022. He maintains a personal site at tobi.lutke.com.
Lütke invests his own money rather than through a fund. Crunchbase lists 23 investments for him in the data Lounge holds, with no lead investments and no recorded exits. Other trackers report different totals, from the low 20s to the 50s, so treat any single count as approximate.
His disclosed rounds include fintech and other non-AI companies as well as AI. Examples are Neo Financial (Canadian fintech), KOHO Financial (Series E) and Socket (Series B, October 2024). In 2021 he and former and current Shopify executives, with Celtic House Venture Partners, put $3 million into Creative Layer, a print-on-demand platform for Shopify merchants.
Crunchbase shows 18 AI investments since 2023. The AI portfolio includes Warp, Raycast, Extropic AI, Firecrawl, Promptfoo, Sundial, Perplexity, Polar, Synthetic, Granola, Liquid AI and Alan.
The companies cluster around developer tooling, AI infrastructure and AI-native products. Perplexity's January 2024 Series B lists him among its investors. Firecrawl's $14.5M Series A in August 2025 and Manifold Labs' Series A in July 2025 also include him, according to Tracxn and Hustle Fund. Tracxn also lists Liquid AI's seed round among his investments.
He often joins rounds alongside institutional investors. Raycast's round, for example, included Accel.
The documented pattern is seed through Series B, with most AI deals in developer tools, infrastructure and AI applications. Tracxn lists his investments in the United States and Canada, plus one other location. Its sector tags are enterprise applications and enterprise infrastructure.
Lütke has not publicly stated a check size or a formal investment thesis. Third-party estimates exist, but Lounge does not repeat them because they are not confirmed by him. Founders should expect him to join a round with other investors rather than lead it, since Crunchbase records no lead investments.
- Perplexity: AI-powered search and answer engine. He is listed as an investor in its January 2024 Series B.
- Raycast: productivity and launcher app for developers and professionals with AI features. It raised a round in 2024 with Accel.
- Warp: AI-assisted terminal for developers. He is recorded in its Series B.
- Firecrawl: web data extraction for AI applications. He is listed in its $14.5M Series A in August 2025.
- Promptfoo: testing and evaluation tooling for LLM applications. It raised a round in 2024.
- Liquid AI: foundation model company. He is listed in its seed round.
- Granola: AI meeting notes app. It appears in his Crunchbase AI portfolio.
- Extropic AI: AI hardware company. It appears in his Crunchbase AI portfolio, with a round in late 2023.
- Manifold Labs: AI and infrastructure company. He is listed in its Series A in July 2025.
- Neo Financial: Canadian fintech company. It is a non-AI example of his investing.
- crunchbase.com/person/tobias-lutke
- crunchbase.com/person/tobias-lutke/person_overview_investor/timeline
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_L%C3%BCtke
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopify
- tim.blog/2019/02/07/tobi-lutke-shopify
- davidsenra.com/episode/tobi-lutke
- tracxn.com/d/people/tobi-lutke/__QOh8OivBAejTJEpl2sG-musBPMwZqrxjfecdt
- tracxn.com/d/people/tobias-albin-lutke/__ZncKvj1IyLx9Ze_ftrhSZMNbAB1hD
AI portfolio
Investing activity
Tobi Lütke has made 23 investments according to Crunchbase. 18 of those investments since 2023 were in AI companies, including Warp, Raycast, Extropic AI, Firecrawl and Promptfoo.
Tobi Lütke appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $6M. The most recent is Herdr (Seed, $6M, Sep 2026).
Tobi Lütke most often invests alongside Bessemer Venture Partners, Dane Knecht, Y Combinator and e2vc, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Tobi Lütke
Does Tobi Lütke invest in AI startups?
Yes. Crunchbase shows 18 AI investments since 2023, including Perplexity, Raycast, Warp, Firecrawl, Promptfoo, Liquid AI, Granola and Extropic AI.
What is Tobi Lütke's check size?
He has not publicly stated one. Third-party databases show estimates, but none is confirmed by him, so Lounge does not publish a figure.
Does Tobi Lütke lead rounds?
Crunchbase records 0 lead investments. His disclosed deals are participations alongside other investors.
What stage does Tobi Lütke invest in?
His recorded deals run from seed to Series B and later. They include Synthetic and Liquid AI at seed, Firecrawl and Manifold Labs at Series A, and Warp and Socket at Series B.
How can founders contact Tobi Lütke?
He is on X as @tobi and on LinkedIn. Founders usually get a better hearing through a mutual connection, such as a co-investor or someone in the Shopify network.
Where is Tobi Lütke based?
He is based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where Shopify is headquartered.
Is Tobi Lütke an angel investor?
Yes. Tobi Lütke invests personally as an angel. Crunchbase counts 23 investments.
What AI companies has Tobi Lütke invested in?
Tobi Lütke's AI investments include Warp, Raycast, Extropic AI, Firecrawl, Promptfoo, Sundial, Perplexity and Polar. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Tobi Lütke invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Tobi Lütke has invested at Seed, with a median round of $6M.
Who does Tobi Lütke co-invest with?
Tobi Lütke's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Bessemer Venture Partners (1 deal), Dane Knecht (1 deal), Y Combinator (1 deal), e2vc (1 deal) and Gorkem Yurtseven (1 deal).