Rakuten Rewards Explained

Rakuten Rewards
Founded: in Menlo Park, California, United States
Founders:Alessandro Isolani and Paul Wasserman
Area Served:United States, Canada, China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan
Key People:Amit Patel (CEO)
Industry:Cashback website
Num Employees:760 (worldwide, 2019)
Parent:Rakuten
Location:San Mateo, California

Rakuten Rewards,[1] formerly known as Ebates,[2] is a cash-back and shopping rewards company.[3] Its revenue comes from affiliate network links.[4] Members of the site click through affiliate links before shopping at a retailer's site.

History

Rakuten Rewards was founded as Ebates in 1998 in Menlo Park, California, by two former deputy district attorneys, Alessandro Isolani and Paul Wasserman.[5] Funded by the venture capital firm Foundation Capital,[6] Ebates.com was launched on 3 May 1999, offering up to 25% cash back from about 40 online retailers.[7]

In September 2014, Ebates was acquired by the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten for US$1 billion.[8] In 2019, the Ebates brand was phased out and replaced with Rakuten Rewards.[9]

Acquisitions

!Date!Company!Business!Country!References
8 September 2011FatWalletComparison shopping siteUnited States[10]
9 August 2012BFAdsCoupons siteUnited States[11]
8 September 2012AnyCouponsCoupons siteUnited States
22 June 2012OneReceiptReceipt digitization serviceUnited States[12]
10/12/2012PushPinsCoupons mobile siteUnited States[13]
25 June 2013
sold 6 December 2017		ExtrabuxComparison shopping siteUnited States[14]
7 March 2016ShopularProduct discovery mobile appUnited States[15]
23 January 2017Cartera CommerceRewards program providerUnited States[16]
3 April 2017ShopStyle (and Cosmic Cart)Fashion discovery siteUnited States[17]

Services/tools

!Name!Description!References
Mobile appFree application for Android and iOS allows users to shop and earn cash back on mobile devices[18]
HotelsUsers can book hotels to earn cash back. All hotels on this section of the site are eligible for 10% cash back[19]
Cash Back ButtonBrowser extension for Google Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. Alerts users to cash-back possibilities on store sites and highlights offers in Google and Bing search results.[20]
MarketplaceFormerly located at Rakuten.com, the marketplace is an e-commerce site where users can buy goods from third-party sellers
In-Store Cash BackUsers can earn cash back in stores by adding a credit or debit card to their accounts and using that card to pay in stores

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ebates is now Rakuten. Rakuten Rewards.
  2. Web site: Ebates is Becoming Rakuten & Super Bowl Ad (How to Pronounce Rakuten). Travel with Grant. 2 May 2019.
  3. Web site: Suknanan . Jasmin . The Rakuten shopping portal gives you cash back for purchases you were already planning to make . 2024-04-02 . CNBC . en.
  4. Rakuten to Acquire Ebates for $1 Billion. Business Wire. 2 April 2015. 9 September 2014.
  5. Web site: Capital . Foundation . 2014-09-11 . Remembering a Scrappy Little Startup Called Ebates . 2024-04-02 . Foundation Capital . en-US.
  6. Web site: Kemp. Ted. ebates.com Pays Cash to Net Shoppers, Hopes to Lure Advertisers. Direct Marketing News. 25 March 2015. 17 May 1999.
  7. Web site: Ebates.com launches discount rebate site. Advertising Age. Crain Communications Inc.. 25 March 2015. 3 May 1999.
  8. Web site: Perez. Sarah. Rakuten Buys Ebates For $1 Billion. TechCrunch. 2 April 2015. 9 September 2014.
  9. Web site: Rakuten Review: Rakuten vs. Ebates - What is Changing. 8 March 2019. Dyer News. 2 May 2019.
  10. Web site: Backed By VCs, Ebates Buys FatWallet.com And AnyCoupons.com, Starts New Company. TechCrunch. 9 September 2011. 6 March 2019.
  11. Web site: Ebates acquires BFAds. StartupRanking. 6 March 2019.
  12. Web site: Performance Marketing Brands Announces Acquisition of OneReceipt. 6 September 2012. Businesswire. 6 March 2019.
  13. Web site: Performance Marketing Brands Expands Into Grocery Retail Market with Acquisition of Pushpins. 22 January 2013. Businesswire. 6 March 2019.
  14. Web site: Ebates Inc. Acquires Extrabux®. 17 March 2014. Businesswire. 6 March 2019.
  15. Web site: Ebates Acquires Shopular. 24 March 2016. Businesswire. 6 March 2019.
  16. Web site: Ebates Acquires Cartera Commerce. 27 January 2017. Businesswire. 6 March 2019.
  17. Web site: Ebates Acquires ShopStyle From PopSugar Inc.. 24 February 2017. Businesswire. 6 March 2019.
  18. Web site: Rakuten Review: Rakuten vs. Ebates - What is Changing. 8 March 2019. Dyer News. 25 April 2019.
  19. Web site: Ebates Hotels Review: Earn 10% Cash Back. 22 August 2018. Hustler Money Blog. 25 April 2019.
  20. Web site: Rakuten Review: Rakuten vs. Ebates - What is Changing. 8 March 2019. Dyer News. 25 April 2019.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rakuten Rewards".

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