The idea of a billion-dollar startup built and run by a single individual seemed an impossible fantasy before the emergence of advanced artificial intelligence. But today, with the rise of AI-driven platforms designed around individuals, this notion is beginning to seem plausible. At the center of this growing excitement is Polar, a platform spearheaded by CEO Birk Jernström, who aims to empower developers to transform their solo projects into “one-person unicorns.”
Jernström first made headlines when Shopify acquired his earlier venture, Tictail, in 2018 for $17 million. Tictail, originally created to simplify online selling for small businesses, rapidly grew into a bustling marketplace with more than 100,000 merchants. Shopify, fresh off its IPO, viewed Tictail as strategic to its efforts in expanding its consumer outreach, leading to an amicable acquisition.
Following the acquisition, Jernström joined Shopify to help develop what eventually became the popular Shop app and Shop Pay ecosystem, platforms that fundamentally reshaped how consumers engage with online retail. Yet, despite professional success, Jernström found himself reflecting deeply on his next steps after the birth of his first child in 2021. This period of introspection prompted him to leave Shopify on good terms and ultimately led him to found Polar.
Polar distinguishes itself within the crowded payments infrastructure industry by exclusively targeting developer needs. Acting as a “Merchant of Record,” Polar handles global billing and taxes seamlessly, allowing developers to quickly monetize their software products and subscription offerings internationally. Its developer-centric API, deployable with just a few lines of code, has resonated strongly in the tech community.
Earlier this year, Polar captured the attention of investors, raising a notable $10 million seed round led by Accel, whose partner Andrei Brasoveanu highlighted Polar’s clear appeal to the new wave of “AI-native” businesses aiming to maintain rapid growth without operational distractions.
Polar’s growth since its September 2024 launch speaks volumes. In less than a year, it already counts 18,000 developers among its customers—a clear sign of market fit and industry validation. Further validating its strategy, the platform attracted personal investments from Shopify leaders Tobias Lütke and Harley Finkelstein, underscoring the goodwill and credibility Jernström developed through years in the digital commerce space. Jernström emphasizes his ongoing direct involvement in customer support, staying closely attuned to his users’ experiences and needs, a hallmark cultivated through his Shopify days.
Adding to Polar’s momentum, numerous prominent entrepreneurs behind leading developer tools—such as Framer, Raycast, Supabase, Vercel, Resend, Nuxt, Dub, WorkOS, and Lovable—have also backed the startup financially. These influential industry figures believe in Polar’s mission to provide seamless monetization infrastructure for independently built software services.
For Jernström, Polar not only captures the current excitement AI has brought to indie developers, but it also represents a broader personal vision rooted in his own story. Raised by an entrepreneurial mother and a developer himself since his teens, he’s carried forward the passion he’s always felt for helping small-scale creators build sustainable, meaningful businesses.
He likens his ambitions with Polar to those of Shopify: both are grounded in enabling entrepreneurship at scale. As Jernström explained, “What I want Polar to achieve is similar to Shopify—how do we empower more entrepreneurship among developers, so they can build independently, follow their own passions, ship software, and build meaningful, successful businesses around it?”
In essence, Polar aims to do for individual developers what Shopify did for small merchants—creating an exceptionally accessible pathway to successful, independent entrepreneurship powered by technology and innovation.
