Wander acquires Maple team, taps ex-Shopify execs to build WanderOS
What's the deal? Vacation rental marketplace and technology provider Wander has acquired the team behind family organisation app Maple to expand its direct booking platform for property managers. Wander did not disclose financial terms, the number of employees joining, or the future of the Maple app.
The details: This is an acqui-hire — Wander bought Maple's team rather than the app or wider business. Maple founders Michael Perry and Mike Taylor join Wander, with Perry appointed vice president of product. Wander has not disclosed Taylor's new title.
Who's joining? Perry and Taylor previously founded marketing automation platform Kit, which Shopify acquired in 2016. Both held senior roles at the e-commerce company before leaving in 2020 to launch Maple.
What's the endgame? The pair will support WanderOS, Wander's technology platform that gives property managers direct booking websites, guest marketing tools, and distribution capabilities. "Their experience during Shopify's hypergrowth era is exactly what Wander needs as we become the backbone for how travel operators grow their businesses and travellers book trips," said founder and chief executive officer John Andrew Entwistle.
Perry framed the move around his track record: "At Shopify, I built products for merchants. At Maple, I built products for families. Now at Wander, I get to do both."
Why now? Founded in 2021, Wander runs a curated vacation rental marketplace alongside WanderOS. In May 2025, it raised $50 million in a Series B round led by QED Investors and Fifth WallDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, taking total equity funding above $100 million.
The signal: Wander is betting that Shopify's playbook — arming independent operators with their own storefronts and marketing tools — can reshape how property managers sell trips outside the big listing platforms. Hiring the people who lived through that scaleup is a shortcut to building it.
Read more: Short Term Rentalz
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
