Canada's Shopify posts bigger quarterly loss as costs soar

(Reuters) - Shopify Inc, which helps companies build their online stores, reported a bigger quarterly loss on Tuesday as marketing and research costs surged.

The company has been investing heavily in upgrading and introducing technologies to attract big and small merchants.

Total operating expenses at the Ottawa-based Shopify, which rivals seasoned software vendors such as Salesforce.com and Adobe Systems in the e-commerce solutions market, rose 63.2 percent to $167.7 million in the second quarter.

Subscription revenue jumped 54.6 percent to $110.7 million as more merchants joined the company's platform, driving up total revenue 61.5 percent to $245.0 million.

Gross merchandise volume (GMV), a widely watched figure for the e-commerce industry's performance, rose 56 percent.

Shopify's net loss widened to $24 million, or 23 cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $14 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company's U.S-listed shares were marginally down premarket at $147.40. They had closed at $148.08 on Monday.

(Reporting by Akshara P in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Sriraj Kalluvila)