The following is a list of investments and acquisitions made by Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company Rakuten.

Acquisitions

Date Company Business Country Value (USD) Comments References
2002 MyTrip.net Online auction  United States — Merged with Rakuten Travel
2005 LinkShare Online auction  United States — Rebranded as Rakuten Marketing then as Rakuten Advertising.[1] [2]
2010 PriceMinister Online retailer  France €200 million [3]
2010 Buy.com Online retailer  United States US$250 million [4]
2011 Ikeda E-commerce  Brazil — Renamed Rakuten Brazil
2011 Tradoria E-commerce  Germany — Rebranded as Rakuten Deutschland
2011 Play.com E-commerce  United Kingdom £25 million Converted into the points-based loyalty program Rakuten.co.uk [5]
2012 Kobo E-book reader  Canada US$315 million Converted into the points-based loyalty program Rakuten.co.uk [6]
2012 Wuaki.tv VOD service  Spain Rebranded to Rakuten TV in 2017
2012 Alpha Direct Services Online retail delivery  France [7]
2012 Aquafadas Electronic publishing  France Rebranded as Rakuten DX in 2020 [8][9]
2013 Daily Grommet Online marketplace Rebranded as The Grommet [10][11]
2013 Webgistix Service fulfillment  United States [12]
2013 Viki Streaming media  Singapore [13]
2014 Viber Media Voice messaging US $905million [14]
2014 DC Storm Marketing technology Acquired by Rakuten Marketing. [15]
2014 Slice E-commerce E-commerce company that provides online shopping services and sells business intelligence based on digital commerce measurement. [16]
2014 Ebates Cashback website US $952 million Changed name to Rakuten Rewards [17]
2015 OverDrive, Inc. Ebook wholesale distributor US $410 million Wholesale distributor of e-books and other digital content that serves libraries and retailers. Later purchased from Rakuten by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 2020.[18] [19]
2016 Bitnet Cryptocurrency wallet US $410 million Used the assets to form Rakuten Blockhain Lab, a research facility that studies the blockchain. [20]
2018 Curbside Retail pickup  United States [21]
2020 Seiyu Group Group of supermarkets  Japan Joint venture with KKR, acuiring 85% ownership. [22]
2020 Voyagin Online travel booking  Japan Name changed to Rakuten Travel Experiences. Had previously invested US$3.48 million. [23]
2021 Altiostar Radio access network US$1 billion Previous investor of US$114 million in 2019 and acquiring an additional 17% stake for US$45 million in 2020.[24] [25]

Investments

Date Company Business Country Value (USD) Comments References
2011 Ozon.ru Online Retailer  United States — Unknown minority stake. Total of $100 million combined with other investors. [26]
2012 Pinterest Social media service  United States — Led $100 million funding round with partners including Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, and others. [27]
2013 Carousell B2C and B2B marketplace  Singapore — Rakuten led a US$800,000 seed round of funding. [28]
2015 Lyft Ridesharing company  United States — Led US$530 million funding round for 12% stake in company. [29]
2015 Cabify Ridesharing company — Initial US$3 million investment in 2015 and additional US$92 million in 2016. [30]
2017 Careem Super-app  United Arab Emirates — US$30 million in financing for the company. [31]
2017 MetroResidences Real estate investing — US$4.2 million. [32]

References

  1. ↑ "Rakuten Launches Rakuten Advertising as a Premier Destination for Brands to Discover Customers and Engage Audiences". MarTech Series. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  2. ↑ Toto, Serkan, "Japan's Rakuten: Can The Biggest E-Commerce Site You Never Heard Of Become a Threat for Amazon Globally?", TechCrunch, Sunday, July 5th, 2009
  3. ↑ Wauters, Robin (2010-06-17). "Rakuten to acquire France's PriceMinister for approximately €200 million". TechCrunch (Eu.techcrunch.com). Retrieved 2011-10-04.
  4. ↑ "Japan's Rakuten to Acquire Buy.com", The Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2010
  5. ↑ Published Wednesday, Sep 21 2011, 12:43 BST (2011-09-21). "Play.com bought by Japanese firm Rakuten for £25m — Media News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2011-10-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Strauss, Marina (8 November 2011). "$315-million Kobo takeover deal a windfall for Indigo". The Globe and Mail.
  7. ↑ Rakuten Acquires Alpha Direct Services, Rakuten corporate blog, 7 November 2012.Retrieved 27 December 2012
  8. ↑ "Kobo Acquires Aquafadas to bring more Comics and Kids Books into Digital Form". goodereader.com. 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
  9. ↑ "Rakuten Launches 'Rakuten DX' to Drive Creativity and Innovation in Digital Experiences Ahead of Expected App Boom". MarTech Series. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  10. ↑ Swisher, Kara (2013-05-14). "Japan's Rakuten Ups Its Stake in the Rebranded Grommet". allthingsd.com. Retrieved 2013-09-19.
  11. ↑ Online Marketplaces - Don’t call me ‘daily’: The Grommet drops the chronological element in its rebranding. Internet Retailer. Retrieved on 2013-09-21.
  12. ↑ Rakuten Acquires U.S.-based Logistics Company Webgistix | | Fulfilling eCommerce. Webgistix.com (2013-06-05). Retrieved on 2013-09-19.
  13. ↑ "Rakuten extends its focus on entertainment after buying Singapore-based video service Viki". The Next Web. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Japanese Internet Giant Rakuten Acquires Viber For $900M". TechCrunch. February 13, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Rakuten Marketing Acquires DC Storm for Omni-channel Attribution, Measurement and Tag Management". Reuters. May 29, 2014. Archived from the original on June 1, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  16. ↑ Bensinger, Greg (November 11, 2014). "Japan's Rakuten Buys Startup as It Mulls U.S. Entry". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. ↑ Mayumi Negishi, "Japan's Rakuten Set to Buy U.S. Shopping Website Ebates", The Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Rakuten Sells Overdrive to Private Investment Firm". The Digital Reader. 2019-12-25. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  19. ↑ "Rakuten to Buy OverDrive". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
  20. ↑ Jon Russell, "Rakuten buys struggling bitcoin startup to create a 'blockchain research lab'", TechCrunch, August 18, 2016.
  21. ↑ Schubarth, Cromwell (8 June 2018). "Japanese e-commerce giant buys Palo Alto retail pickup startup". Silicon Valley Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  22. ↑ "KKR and Rakuten to buy 85% of Seiyu from Walmart". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  23. ↑ Lee, Terence (1 July 2015). "Rakuten buys tour marketplace Voyagin to gear up for 2020 Tokyo Olympics travel bonanza". Tech in Asia. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  24. ↑ Le Maistre, Ray (4 August 2021). "Rakuten acquires Altiostar at $1B+ valuation". Televcom TC. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  25. ↑ Phadnis, Shilpa (11 August 2021). "After acquisition by Rakuten, Altiostar to further expand in India". Times of India. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  26. ↑ "Internet Retailer Ozon.ru Gets Record $100M Investment". The Moscow Times. 2011-09-08. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  27. ↑ "Exclusive: Japan’s Rakuten Wins the Heart of Pinterest in $100M Funding Race With $1.5B Valuation", All things digital, 17 May 2012
  28. ↑ Catherine Shu, "Marketplace App Carousell Raises $800K Seed Round Led By Rakuten", TechCrunch, November 13, 2013.
  29. ↑ Mike Isaac, "Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten Founder, Joins Lyft's Board", The New York Times, June 23, 2015.
  30. ↑ Yoko Kubota, "Rakuten Raises Investment in Latin America Ride-Hailing App Cabify", The Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2016.
  31. ↑ Katie Roof, "PayPal leads $30 million round in Acorns investing app", TechCrunch, April 21, 2016.
  32. ↑ Jon Russell, "Rakuten invests $2.8M in 'Airbnb for business travel' startup MetroResidences", TechCrunch, April 10, 2017.
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