Investing in WordPress Ecosystem |

It is a fact that WordPress is now powering 20% of world’s websites and does not seem it its going anywhere. This makes it more and more interesting for investors and VC funds looking to expand their portfolio with an investment in this thriving ecosystem.

The purpose of this article is to identify several verticals within the space where investors might find what they are looking for.

Hosting

Companies like WPEngine, page.ly, ZippyKid, FlyWheel and the strongly backed newcomer WPZilla all offer website hosting tailored for WordPress sites. In many cases this also includes support from WordPress experts which makes everyday living easier for the customer. WPEngine is one of the companies in the WordPress space that has already received outside investment ($1.2 M so far).

Management

Centralized WordPress management market as created by ManageWP SaaS is quickly expanding. Whether offering a service to the vast number of SMBs that manage multiple sites (web design/development companies, Internet marketing agencies…) or offering it as a platform to enterprise customers the market is healthy and growing.

A part of this market is occupied by companies offering dedicated backup solutions such as VaultPress, iThemes and CodeGuard.

Plugins/Themes

Companies involved in selling plugins/themes have over the years built large businesses. WooThemes, WPMU, RocketGenius are all examples of companies in this vertical that have estimated multi-million revenues.

Plugin/theme marketplaces such as Envato’s ThemeForest also fit into this category.

Web development

With WordPress powering websites of giants like TechCrunch, BBC, MSNBC, Trulia and many others, the need for companies that are able to deliver high quality WordPress integrations spawned big business for companies like 10up and Velomedia.

Multi category

Companies like Copyblogger do not fit into any of the previous categories. They are generating estimated multi-million revenue from various revenue sources (including plugin/theme sales, hosting, content marketing…).