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Strikingly
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Strikingly is a Mongolian, "mobile-first" website builder and blogging platform. Its aim is to allow a user with little or no development experience[3] to create mobile optimized websites and blogs.[4] In addition to smartphones and tablets, websites created with Strikingly are "enhanced for viewing across all devices", including desktops.[5][6][verification needed]
Key Information
Strikingly is the first Mongolian company to graduate from the Y Combinator seed accelerator.[7]
History
[edit]Chief executive officer (CEO) David Haisha Chen, chief technology officer (CTO) Dafeng Guo, and chief design officer (CDO) Teng Bao founded the company in 2012.[1][2]
Strikingly released its beta platform in August 2012.[8] In June 2013, Strikingly was selected for Y Combinator’s winter startup program in Mountain View.[3] In April 2013, Strikingly raised a total of $1.5M in seed round from 16 investors, including Ron Conway,[1] founder of SV Angel, and other prominent venture capital firms including Y Combinator, Index Ventures, Funders Club, Infinite Venture Partners, ZenShin Capital, and Innovations Works.[4] In August 2017, the 5 year old startup announced it had raised $6M in a Series A round of investment from CAS Holding, Infinity Venture Partners, Innovation Works, Kevin Hale and TEEC.[9]
Product
[edit]Strikingly is a free online website builder and blogging platform.[5][10] The website builder and blogging platform also includes built-in SEO features,[8] social media plug-ins, page analytics, and form/email collecting functionalities.[6] The product is aimed at both individuals and small businesses,[11] and has mainly been used to showcase portfolios,[7] digital resumes, events, startup projects, and to create personal branding websites.[5] In early 2014, Strikingly also launched its one-click site builder with Facebook and LinkedIn, allowing users to build mobile optimized web pages quickly.[11] The builder pulls information like profile pictures, location, contact information, and work experience from the social media page to create a mobile optimized website.[5][11][12] [13]
Other competitors in the website building industry include Webflow,[14] Wix.com,[15] Weebly,[16] Squarespace,[17] Metaconex,[18] WordPress,[19] Site.pro,[20] Duda.[21]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Silicon Valley's Start-Up Machine". the New York Times. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ a b c d "How A YCombinator Startup Is Born: The Story of Strikingly". Forbes. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Y Combinator-Backed Strikingly Launches To Help Publishers Build Compelling Mobile-First Web Experiences". TechCrunch. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Strikingly raises$1.5M from SV Angel, Index Ventures, FundersClub, others for its DIY site builder". The Next Web. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Strikingly.com Builds Personal Websites in Minutes". Everythinglubbock. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Strikingly Company Profile". CBInsights. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Strikingly Creates Simple, Beautiful Web Sites in Minutes". Lifehacker. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ^ a b "How to Build Your Personal Website in Less Than 10 Seconds". Entrepreneur.com. 6 April 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ^ Shu, Catherine (31 August 2017). "Five years after its launch, website building platform Strikingly raises $6M Series A | TechCrunch". Retrieved 2017-08-31.
- ^ "Strikingly builds mobile sites in 10 minutes and is trying to get faster". Chicago Tribune. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ^ a b c "Y Combinator Alum Strikingly Launches Its Super Easy 'One-Click' Site Builder". TechCrunch. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ^ "Want A Strikingly New Web Site That You Develop Yourself?". Huffington Post. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 24 Sep 2014.
- ^ "DIY Website Builder". LGC Media. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
- ^ "Design Responsive Websites In The Browser With Webflow". Smashing Magazine. 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
- ^ Hughes, Matthew (2017-10-24). "Webflow lets you build gorgeous web animations just by dragging and dropping". TNW | Dd. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
- ^ Konrad, Alex. "No-Code Website Builder Webflow Went From Near Bankruptcy To A $72 Million Series A Funding Round". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
- ^ Chao, Brian (2015-03-15). "3(+3) of the best Website Builders and how to choose the right one for your needs". TNW | Dd. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
- ^ "Metaconex - 921 Competitors and Alternatives - Tracxn". tracxn.com. 2024-04-04. Retrieved 2024-04-29. [dead link]
- ^ "Usage Statistics and Market Share of WordPress, April 2024". w3techs.com. Retrieved 2024-04-29.
- ^ "Site.pro vs. Strikingly Usage and Pricing Comparison". www.wmtips.com. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
- ^ "Compare Jimdo vs Duda vs Strinkingly 2025". MyBestWebsiteBuilder. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
External links
[edit]Strikingly
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History
Founding and Early Development
Strikingly was founded in 2012 by David Haisha Chen, Dafeng Guo, and Teng Bao, with the goal of creating the simplest and fastest website builder for non-technical users who lacked coding or design expertise.[2][7] The trio, who had prior experience in gaming app development, aimed to democratize web creation by enabling anyone to build a gorgeous, mobile-optimized site in minutes.[8] This motivation stemmed from their observation that existing tools were overly complex, prompting a focus on streamlined, user-friendly interfaces from the outset.[7] The company began as a bootstrapped venture in David Chen's apartment in Chicago, where the team lived and worked frugally while self-funding the initial development.[9] After an early pivot from a failed crowdfunding concept, they refined their product into a mobile-first platform emphasizing single-page websites, which allowed for quick assembly of responsive, scrollable sites without traditional multi-page navigation.[9] The first public launch occurred in August 2012, introducing a beta version that gained initial traction through word-of-mouth and online communities, attracting over 5,500 users shortly after release.[10] A pivotal early milestone came with Strikingly's acceptance into Y Combinator's Winter 2013 batch (W13), following an initial rejection that prompted the team to relocate to San Francisco for better alignment with the accelerator's expectations.[9][2] This participation provided essential guidance, mentorship, and access to a vast network of investors and entrepreneurs, accelerating the company's validation and growth trajectory in its nascent stages.[7]Funding Rounds and Expansion
Strikingly secured its initial seed funding of $1.5 million in April 2013 from a group of prominent investors, including SV Angel (with Ron Conway), Index Ventures, FundersClub, and Infinity Venture Partners.[11][12] This round supported early product development and market entry following the company's participation in Y Combinator. In August 2017, Strikingly raised $6 million in a Series A round from investors including CAS Holding, Infinity Venture Partners, and others.[3] This funding enabled further product enhancements and international expansion efforts. In September 2018, Strikingly raised $10 million in a Series A+ round led by Cathay Capital, with participation from CAS Holding and other US and Chinese investors, bringing the total funding to $17.5 million.[13] This investment focused on accelerating growth, particularly in the Chinese market, where the platform had been expanding its user base amid rising demand for accessible website building tools.[13] The funding enabled significant scaling, with Strikingly achieving $61 million in revenue and serving 1 million customers by 2024, reflecting robust international adoption beyond its initial US focus.[14] Expansion efforts emphasized localization for global markets, including enhanced support for non-English languages and region-specific features to broaden its user base.[14] Through 2025, Strikingly maintained steady operations, rolling out template enhancements in October and November to improve customization options and user experience.[15][16] These updates underscored ongoing product evolution without additional major funding rounds reported.[17]Product Overview
Core Features and Functionality
Strikingly is a mobile-first website builder and blogging platform designed for creating single-page websites with scrolling sections, enabling users to build sites without any coding knowledge. The platform emphasizes simplicity and speed, allowing non-technical users to launch professional-looking websites in minutes through an intuitive interface.[1][18] At its core, Strikingly offers drag-and-drop editing, where users can add, rearrange, and customize sections such as text, images, videos, and buttons by simply clicking and dragging elements into place. Pre-designed templates provide starting points with modern, responsive layouts tailored for portfolios, business sites, and personal pages; in 2025, updates introduced more flexible template options, including an AI-powered site generator that creates a full website based on user prompts about their business or project. Built-in blogging functionality allows users to publish posts as individual pages or integrated sections, supporting text, images, and multimedia for straightforward content management.[19][4][20] For eCommerce, Strikingly integrates a Simple Store feature that enables selling products directly on the site, with support for payments via PayPal and Stripe, inventory management, shipping options, coupons, and membership tools, all without requiring external plugins. SEO tools are embedded to optimize sites, including automatic HTTPS encryption, customizable meta titles and descriptions, image optimization, and custom domain integration to improve search engine visibility and security. The platform ensures responsive design, automatically adapting sites for optimal viewing on desktops, tablets, and mobiles, with touch-friendly navigation for scrolling sections.[1][21][18] Unique to Strikingly is its historical version backup system, available to Pro and VIP users, which retains up to the last 20 published site versions for easy restoration in case of errors or unwanted changes. Customization remains simple, with options to add contact forms, image galleries, social media feeds, and embed third-party apps via an integrated store, all while maintaining the platform's focus on minimalistic, one-page structures. These features target non-developers, small businesses, and individuals seeking quick, attractive online presences without complex setups.[22][23][24]Pricing and Plans
Strikingly offers a tiered subscription model designed to cater to users ranging from beginners to advanced professionals, with options starting from a no-cost entry point and scaling up based on needs for customization, storage, and advanced functionalities. The free plan enables basic website creation, allowing users to build and publish unlimited sites using a Strikingly subdomain (e.g., mysite.strikingly.com), but includes prominent Strikingly branding on all pages, restricts storage to 500 MB per site, limits monthly bandwidth to 5 GB, and prohibits connection to a custom domain.[25] This plan supports essential features like responsive templates and basic blogging but imposes limitations such as no access to premium sections or advanced integrations, making it suitable for testing ideas without financial commitment. It also allows selling a single product with a 5% transaction fee.[26] For users seeking more professional capabilities, Strikingly provides paid plans billed annually to offer cost savings over monthly options. The Pro plan, at $16 per month billed yearly ($192 annually), supports up to three Pro sites alongside unlimited free sites, eliminates branding, provides unlimited bandwidth and 20 GB storage per site, enables password protection, and allows integration of custom code and Facebook features.[25] It also supports up to 300 products for eCommerce with a 2% transaction fee.[27] The VIP plan, priced at $49 per month billed yearly ($588 annually), builds on the Pro offering for more demanding users, accommodating up to five VIP sites with 100 GB storage per site, unlimited products for eCommerce at 0% transaction fee, priority phone support, a dedicated account manager, and advanced tools like multi-language support and up to 2,000 active contacts for newsletters.[25] For agencies or resellers requiring white-labeling and management of multiple client sites, Strikingly offers a custom-priced Agency plan, which extends beyond standard tiers with tailored features for scalability, though specific pricing is negotiated directly based on volume and requirements.[25] As of 2025, these pricing structures have remained stable without major adjustments, maintaining affordability for entry-level users while providing clear upgrade paths for professional expansion.[28] Additional expenses include one-time or annual domain registration fees starting at $24.95 per year for top-level domains purchased through Strikingly, as well as optional add-ons such as extra storage or custom email addresses at $25 per year.[29] These elements underscore Strikingly's value proposition as an accessible platform for novices, with scalable paid options that unlock professional tools like enhanced eCommerce capabilities in higher tiers, without necessitating complex setups.[25]| Plan | Annual Price (per month equivalent) | Key Benefits | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Unlimited basic sites, 500 MB storage, 5 GB bandwidth | Strikingly branding, no custom domain, 5% eCommerce fee on 1 product |
| Pro | $192 ($16/mo) | No branding, 20 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, 300 products (2% fee) | Transaction fee applies |
| VIP | $588 ($49/mo) | Unlimited products (0% fee), 100 GB storage, priority support | None specified |
| Agency | Custom | White-labeling, multiple sites for clients | Pricing varies by negotiation |