Toronto-based mobile commerce platform Reactiv has acquired its New York competitor Kin Commerce, a cash deal that brings major brands including Steve Madden and Chubbies into the startup's client base.

Co-founder and COO Zack Elias told BetaKit in an interview that the deal was not something the company had planned for this year.

"[Acquiring Kin] definitely wasn't in my 2026 bingo card; I think part of it was kind of opportunistic," Elias said.

According to BetaKit, the purchase closed in early September. The price was not disclosed. Because Kin's leadership was pivoting to a new AI marketing startup, the deal covers only Kin's technology, intellectual property and customers, along with one Kin engineer, bringing Reactiv's headcount to 31 employees.

Reactiv was founded in 2023 by former Shopify employees. Kin Commerce, founded in 2022 by ex-Meta employees, became available after its founders shifted their focus elsewhere, and Elias said Reactiv moved quickly to acquire its US counterpart.

The acquisition follows a previously undisclosed seed extension round that closed earlier this year, raising $6 million USD — about $8.5 million CAD — and bringing Reactiv's total external funding to roughly $12 million USD.

Why the deal happened

Both companies help e-commerce clients build their own AI-powered mobile apps with features aimed at customer engagement and sales conversion. Elias said Kin's strength lies in how it integrates social media functions for retailers, such as "For You" pages, forums and pulled-in Instagram posts, while Reactiv is known for its Clips feature, which places a segment of a retailer's app on a shopper's phone directly from an ad.

The acquisition "was a growth anchor for us, especially some of those strategic logos, like [powering] Steve Madden's global stores," Elias told BetaKit. "But the parts that we're interested in migrating into Reactiv longer term do fall around those social capabilities."

Integration on hold until after Black Friday

For now, Reactiv is keeping Kin running as a separate product. Elias explained that Black Friday, which he called the e-commerce world's "Super Bowl," is coming up next month, and no company wants to disrupt its systems before then. After the shopping event, Reactiv plans to look at merging the two platforms into one.

The deal is part of a broader growth trajectory for the Toronto startup. Elias said Reactiv is powering upcoming apps for Indigo and Browns Shoes, and has found unexpected traction with major sports teams.

He also pointed to a wider market trend of large brands abandoning custom web and app development in favour of bespoke commerce platforms, citing Reitmans' and Canada Goose's recent migrations to Shopify as examples.

"They're trying to move to a platform that is equally as capable, but perhaps there's a lower total cost of ownership [or] it's easier to manage," Elias said. "Our pitch is very, very similar when we're talking to those types of brands."