[davnicwil]

I'd say the amount donated (100k) suggests it can only really be marketing budget (possibly folding recruitment into this).

For an organisation of Shopify's size it's way too low an amount to invest if they expect significant strategic advantage from actually using the software.

[WJW]

Investment size does suggest that, but I don't think it is as clear-cut as you say.

First, Ladybird is basically a one-man project and I don't think they are really looking to become a company as such. This means there is a practical maximum you can invest even if it was a very important project. The effect of investing 500k would be basically the same as investing 100k (ie, de dev behind can now work on the project full-time) and if you invest too much that might make it a shopify-exclusive project. If the goal is to sponsor a new widely used open source browser it makes sense not to monopolize it too much, because then people wouldn't see the project as "open" anymore. Now there can still be other sponsors.

Second, a project like this probably has a fairly low chance of actually succeeding in gaining market share from one of the big browsers. If shopify actually has some type of Strategic Investment Budget for commoditizing complements and the like, it would probably make sense to split it VC-style over many small projects rather than making big bets on only a few projects. If one of the small projects gains traction, you can always support it more when needed.

[davnicwil]

You make good points, and yeah of course there may be a behind-the-scenes understanding that further funding will be made available as needed / when specific goals are hit, that's true!