Key takeaways:
- Fudge was founded by lifelong builders
- Built Shopify-native, not on top of it
- Focused on faster iteration, not templates
- Trusted by merchants worldwide
- Currently experiencing explosive growth
Fudge exists because building a better Shopify storefront has always been harder than it should be.
For most merchants, the gap between knowing what to change and shipping the change is measured in weeks: brief a designer, wait for a developer, work around theme limitations, and hope nothing breaks. We believed there had to be a more direct path - one where improving your store feels as natural as describing what you want.
Core belief:
If you can clearly describe an outcome, you should be able to ship it.
It started with speed
Before Fudge was an AI page builder, it was a performance product.
We began by tackling one of the most universal e-commerce problems: slow sites. Speed affects everything - conversion rates, ad efficiency, SEO, and how a brand feels. The early version of Fudge focused on automatically improving performance at the infrastructure layer, applying optimizations through edge networks like Cloudflare and Fastly to make stores faster without constant maintenance.
What we learned: Speed matters - but leverage matters more.
Working on site speed taught us something important. The biggest improvements didn’t come from one-off tweaks, but from shortening the feedback loop between identifying a problem and fixing it. Merchants needed tools that removed friction entirely, not just tools that made small improvements.
The pivot: AI changed what was possible
As modern AI models emerged, the real bottleneck became impossible to ignore.
Site speed was only one piece of the puzzle. The larger constraint was the build process itself: ideation → execution → iteration. Merchants still relied on rigid templates, multiple tools, and long handoffs just to test a new landing page or adjust a section.
Insight: The slowest part of commerce isn’t pages - it’s people waiting on processes.
So we pivoted. Fudge became what we wished existed: an AI-powered, Shopify-native editor that helps you get ideas, build pages, and make real storefront changes using simple prompts.
Since that pivot, we’ve seen explosive usage and growth - because the promise is simple and powerful: describe what you want, review it safely, and publish when you’re ready.
Built the Shopify-native way
Fudge is now an AI Page Builder + Editor for Shopify, designed to work the way serious Shopify teams already operate.
Fudge understands your store - its products, branding, ads, and structure - then suggests ideas and generates pages or edits based on that context. Everything is created in draft mode, so your live site stays untouched until you approve the changes.
Designed for trust: Nothing goes live without your explicit review.
We built Fudge to Shopify’s highest standards, earning Built for Shopify status. That means tight admin integration, performance awareness, and compatibility with your existing theme and app stack - no lock-in, no fragile overrides.
Meet the founders
Fudge is founded by Simeon Mantel and Jacques Blom, two lifelong builders obsessed with removing friction from complex systems.
Simeon comes from a background in education and publishing. He’s published widely used study guides - including an isiZulu learning book - by breaking complex subjects into patterns and working closely with experts. Before Fudge, he also built education platforms that reached hundreds of thousands of students across South Africa.
Simeon’s strength: Turning complexity into something practical and accessible.
Jacques is a product-focused engineer with deep experience in performance, front-end tooling, and creative developer systems. He’s built large-scale consumer products, taught advanced engineering topics, and spoken publicly about building complex browser-based rendering engines. He also single-handedly built the first versions of Fudge end-to-end.
Jacques’s strength: Shipping powerful systems that feel simple to use.
Where we’re going
Our goal is straightforward: make storefront iteration feel effortless - without sacrificing craft, safety, or control.
We believe the next generation of commerce teams will win by moving faster, not by cutting corners. Fudge is our attempt to make that future real: a Shopify-native AI editor that helps you ship better pages, learn faster, and keep improving - week after week.
Recently, we were selected by Shopify to be featured on the App Store home page - a recognition of the impact we’re having for merchants. Since then, we’ve experienced explosive growth as more Shopify teams discover what an AI-powered editor can do for their business. The momentum is undeniable, and we’re just getting started. Fudge is on the rise, and the best is yet to come.
What started as an idea is now transforming how merchants build.