Rakuten Capital, EV Growth back Singapore's ShopBack

EDBI, the investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, also contributed. It brings ShopBack’s total funding to date to $83 million. The fresh capital will support user experience and data capability improvements as well as expansion efforts in key markets. The company has recently entered Australia and opened R&D hubs in Vietnam and Taiwan.

Rakuten Capital, an investment arm of Japanese IT and e-commerce giant Rakuten, said it would become a “significant” shareholder. Amit Patel, the CEO of a Rakuten-owned shopping rewards company called Ebates, will join the ShopBack board. Rakuten and ShopBack will also pursue synergies between their product offerings across the broader region.

“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,” Patel said in a statement. “The company remains focused on building rewards and discovery features to enhance both online and offline shopping experiences.”

Founded in 2014, ShopBack operates a platform that promotes the products of both online and offline retailers, which pay a commission for sales generated via the service. ShopBack then uses the commissions in part to provide discounts and coupons to end-users. About seven million people in seven countries have used the platform, delivering nearly $1 billion in sales for 2,000 merchants.

The company claims to have grown 250% during 2018 in both orders and sales. Previous investment includes a $25 million round in 2017 that included East Ventures, SoftBank, and 33 Capital, as well as two early-stage rounds backed by Accel-X. Blue Sky Private Equity, Aetius Capital, AppWorks Ventures, Qualgro Partners, and SingTel Innov8 are among the company's other backers.

EV Growth was launched last year as a $150 million joint venture between East Ventures, Yahoo Japan, and Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas Group targeting investments at Series B and later stages. Rakuten has recently cooperated with EDBI in the Singapore retail services space with participation in an $85 million Series C for flea market app Carousell.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Singapore
• Rakuten
• Sinar Mas Digital Ventures
• YJ Capital
• East Ventures
• EDBI
• e-commerce
• TMT