ShopBack makes foray into South Korea with Ebates Korea buy

SHOPBACK has acquired fellow online cashback platform Ebates Korea from Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten for an undisclosed sum.

ShopBack's latest expansion into South Korea comes shortly after Singapore state investment firm Temasek led the group's extended US$75 million funding round in March this year.

The cashback startup announced in April 2019 that it had raised US$45 million in an equity funding round, co-led by investors Rakuten Capital and EV Growth, with participation from EDBI, the investment arm of Singapore's Economic Development Board.

With effect from Tuesday, Ebates Korea will cease operations and users will be directed to ShopBack Korea's beta platform. The official launch of the new ShopBack Korea is tentatively slated for mid-2020.

Following the acquisition, ShopBack is expected to serve over 500,000 customers in South Korea this year, the company said.

It added that the deal will grow ShopBack's user base and its merchants, which now include Korean brands such as Gmarket, Wemakeprice and 11Street.

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Shoppers can now make purchases via the ShopBack Korea platform and earn up to 15 per cent cashback on their purchases in categories such as fashion, beauty and electronics.

Henry Chan, ShopBack's chief executive officer and co-founder said: "South Korea's digitally mature mindset and rapid adoption of e-commerce makes it a core and high-potential market for cashback platforms."

According to statistics portal for market data Statista, South Korea is one of the largest e-commerce markets worldwide, with industry figures suggesting that retail e-commerce in the country will grow to US$32.56 billion by 2021, up from US$19.12 billion in 2016.

First established in Singapore in 2014, ShopBack has since expanded to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, and Australia.