All case studies
Consumer Mobile · Live Commerce

From zero to one million users — and a successful acquisition

Live commerce had no dominant mobile platform in Canada. The window required real-time video, payments, and social features working simultaneously at scale.

iOSAndroidLive streamingPaymentsReal-time infrastructurePush notifications
1M+
Users at acquisition
✓ Acquired
Outcome
iOS + Android
Platforms
2014–2020
The problem

Live commerce had no dominant mobile platform in Canada. The window required real-time video, payments, and social features working simultaneously at scale.

Our approach

Built native iOS and Android with real-time streaming, in-app purchasing, seller dashboards, and push notification infrastructure designed for concurrent live sessions.

The outcome

Grew past one million users. Platform infrastructure remained stable under peak concurrent load. Successfully acquired — the first of two platform exits for Saigal Media.

Architecture & tech decisions

Chose native over cross-platform for performance headroom. Built a custom real-time event system over WebSockets rather than using a third-party service — critical for controlling latency at scale. Payments integrated via Stripe with our own escrow layer for marketplace transactions.

Lessons learned

The biggest challenge wasn't the technology — it was understanding which seller behaviours drove buyer retention. We built extensive analytics early, which made the difference during the acquisition process.

Technologies used
iOS (Swift)Android (Kotlin)Node.jsWebSocketsPostgreSQLRedisAWSStripeFCM/APNs

What problem are you trying to solve?

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