Tokyo, April 10, 2019 – Rakuten Capital, the investment arm of Rakuten, Inc., today announced a strategic investment in ShopBack, the one-stop rewards and discovery platform headquartered in Singapore. Rakuten Capital and EV Growth are co-leading this investment round of US$45M with participation from EDBI, a Singapore government-linked strategic investor and existing investors.
The new capital injection brings ShopBack’s total funding to US$83M, and adds Rakuten Capital as a significant shareholder. Amit Patel, CEO of Ebates Inc., a Rakuten company, has been appointed to the company’s board. Rakuten and ShopBack will also explore future synergies with product offerings to better serve consumers across the Asia Pacific region.
“Rakuten is committed to empowering great companies around the world and I’m incredibly excited to join as a member to the ShopBack board,” said Amit Patel, CEO, Ebates Inc., a Rakuten company. “ShopBack has established itself as a strong leader across the Asia Pacific region and has a rare combination of dedicated customer service, a passionate customer base and an extremely talented team.
”ShopBack’s new round of funding will be deployed into simplifying shopping experiences, expanding data capabilities to fuel personalization and business insights, as well as accelerating growth in key markets. The company remains focused on building rewards and discovery features to enhance both online and offline shopping experiences for consumers across the Asia Pacific.
“Our rapidly growing pool of loyal users is a strong testament to the value we bring to merchant partners and consumers across Asia Pacific,” said Henry Chan, CEO and Co-Founder of ShopBack. “We are super excited to welcome Amit to the board and we look forward to his guidance in accelerating our next stage of growth.”
In 2018, ShopBack saw a 250% year-on-year growth in orders and sales. The company was powering over 2.5 million monthly transactions for more than 7 million users in 7 Asia Pacific countries, delivering close to US$1 billion sales for over 2,000 merchant partners in both the online as well as offline spaces.
ShopBack also entered Australia, its first market outside Asia last year and opened research and development hubs in Vietnam and Taiwan, driving a threefold increase in its Engineering, Data and Product Management talent pool.
About ShopBack
ShopBack is leading the wave of smarter shopping in Asia Pacific with a one-stop rewards and discovery platform that powers smarter purchase decisions. A premier player with an established presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia, ShopBack has been working with leading e-commerce merchants since 2014, rewarding consumers with cashback whenever they shop via ShopBack.
About Rakuten Capital
Rakuten Capital is a corporate venture capital group that provides funding, sector experience and operational support to its portfolio companies across the world. Rakuten Capital is part of the Rakuten Group, one of the world’s leading internet service companies. Rakuten has built and invested in innovative internet businesses in e-commerce, financial services, digital content and advertising since 1997. The company is headquartered in Tokyo and is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. For more information visit: https://capital.rakuten.com