Rakuten Rewards
Shopping rewards company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rakuten Rewards (/ˈrækətɪn/ RAK-ə-tin),[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.
 | |
| Industry | Cashback website |
|---|---|
| Founded | 3 May 1998 in Menlo Park, California, United States |
| Founders | Alessandro Isolani and Paul Wasserman |
| Headquarters | San Mateo, California |
Area served | United States, Canada, China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan |
Key people | Amit Patel (CEO) |
Number of employees | 760 (worldwide, 2019) |
| Parent | Rakuten |
| Website | www |
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 2011 | FatWallet | Comparison shopping site | United States | [10] |
| 9 August 2012 | BFAds | Coupons site | United States | [11] |
| 8 September 2012 | AnyCoupons | Coupons site | United States | [citation needed] |
| 22 June 2012 | OneReceipt | Receipt digitization service | United States | [12] |
| 10/12/2012 | PushPins | Coupons mobile site | United States | [13] |
| 25 June 2013 sold 6 December 2017 |
Extrabux | Comparison shopping site | United States | [14] |
| 7 March 2016 | Shopular | Product discovery mobile app | United States | [15] |
| 23 January 2017 | Cartera Commerce | Rewards program provider | United States | [16] |
| 3 April 2017 | ShopStyle (and Cosmic Cart) | Fashion discovery site | United States | [17] |
Services/tools
| Name | Description | References |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile app | Free application for Android and iOS allows users to shop and earn cash back on mobile devices. | [18] |
| Hotels | Users can book hotels to earn cash back. | [19] |
| Cash Back Button | Browser 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] |
| Marketplace | Formerly located at Rakuten.com, the marketplace is an e-commerce site where users can buy goods from third-party sellers. | |
| In-Store Cash Back | Users can earn cash back in stores by adding a credit or debit card to their accounts and using that card to pay in stores. |
Logos
2017
2018
2019 (US, before renaming)
2019 (Canada, before renaming)
2019 (US and Canada, after renaming)
