Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) forecast better-than-expected 2017 revenue due to higher demand for its ecommerce software, which is used to set up and manage online stores.

U.S.-listed shares of the company (SHOP.N) were up 3.4 per cent at US$57.95 in premarket trading on Wednesday.

On an adjusted basis, the company broke even per share, while analysts were expecting a loss of 2 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company forecast full-year revenue of US$580 million to US$600 million, well above estimates of US$563.3 million.

Merchants use Shopify's software platform to design, set up and manage their stores across sales channels including the web, mobile devices, social media and brick-and-mortar outlets.

The company's clients include Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N), Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) and the New York Stock Exchange.

The company said more than 133,000 net new merchants began selling on Shopify last year. The company ended the year with 377,500 merchants on the platform.

Revenue from Shopify's merchant solutions business more than doubled to nearly US$74 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

Shopify gets a bulk of its merchant solutions revenue from fees that it charges its clients, or merchants, when their customer orders are processed through Shopify's payment system.

Revenue in the company's subscription business, which makes money from the fees Shopify's clients pay to use its platform, rose 62.9 per cent to US$56.4 million.

However, net loss widened to US$8.9 million, or 10 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, from US$6.3 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier, as costs rose.

Ottawa-based Shopify, which went public in May 2015, said revenue rose nearly 86 per cent to US$130.4 million.