Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Rakuten Mobile is going to shake up the MNO business as the fourth major carrier in Japan from October 2019. With the launch of the first end-to-end fully-virtualized cloud-native mobile phone network, Rakuten Mobile aims to be one of – if not the – technologically most advanced telecommunication providers in the world. We believe that the demands of our customers for more flexible, reliable, and powerful services at low cost can only be met by reducing the burden that the network’s operation places on our engineers’ shoulders.

With this end goal in mind, I’m very excited to announce that we are creating the new Autonomous Networking Research & Innovation Department within Rakuten Mobile. Our explicit purpose is to make a truly autonomous network a reality. By building up a leading team of world-class researchers and through close collaboration with leading research institutions both in academia and the industry, we aim to revolutionize the existing telecommunications environment.

rakuten.today/blog/...-launches-research-innovation-team.html

Cristina Constandache

Viber is one of the most popular messaging apps worldwide, with over 1 billion registered users in 190 countries and it supports over 30 languages. The first main feature when Viber released was free calls between users.

Communities are the next big thing for Viber. Brands, celebrities, and users can create their own unique, public channel in which they can communicate whatever they want to their audience.

Cristina Constandache, Viber Chief Revenue Officer, told me that communities grow in sheer numbers and sizes. "Some of the most active communities come from partnerships like FC Barcelona and the Warriors. The most active and engaged communities focus on people's passions like sports, exercise, books, and avoiding speeding tickets." So if you have a hobby probably, there is a community you can join in Viber with people sharing information about it.

www.forbes.com/sites/timoskouremenos/2019/...er/#1ba52b292b75

Average Recommendation: OVERWEIGHT

Average Target Price: 72.60

www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/lyft/analystestimates

into an Important Business Channel

Posted on June 9, 2019

Are you ready to find out why businesses around the world are turning to Viber Messenger? In this post, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about this increasingly-popular social app and find out why it’s become one of the most important business channels of 2019.

sms.to/blog/...ly-shaping-into-an-important-business-channel/

https://www.youtube.com/...EabcHr_zkY&feature=youtu.be&t=3865

to LaGuardia
Sarah Perez@sarahintampa / 13 hours ago

Lyft has announced an expansion of its new program designed to make airport pickups less confusing for riders and drivers alike, by directing riders to a designated pickup spot where they’ll show the driver a PIN code. The program is launching this weekend at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the company says, and the plan to roll out a similar experience at other airports in the future still remains.

Starting on Saturday, July 20 at LaGuardia, users who request a Lyft ride won’t have to search for their vehicle at the usual and often busy pickup areas. Instead, they’ll be directed through the Lyft app to a designated Lyft pickup spot, located in the Terminal B Garage, Area G.

A screen will pop up after the user enters their ride request and destination that explains how to get to the Lyft pickup area, and will display a button that says “Get Code.” Riders tap this button for a unique code they’ll show their driver, which matches them to that ride.

techcrunch.com/2019/07/19/...pickups-to-laguardia/?yptr=yahoo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgHF86vG8pE

specialises in Korean and other Asian TV shows, has a novel approach to subtitling its programmes. "Viki is a combination of 'video' and 'wiki', so combine them and you get Viki," says Kristine Ortiz, the company's senior community manager.

"Basically, we're a video streaming platform, but all of our subtitles are crowdsourced, so that's where the wiki element comes in."

The company, which was originally an independent start-up, was bought for £130m in 2013 by Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten. It now has more than 40 million monthly active users, and offices in Seoul, Singapore, San Francisco, and Tokyo.

Viki describes itself as "global TV powered by fans". One of its most popular shows at the moment is called Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo.

www.bbc.com/news/business-44453310

      DATE INVESTORS    AMOUNT§ROUND

       N/A§  Rakuten Capital, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures  N/A
          §
Sep 2012 Red Swan Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, E-Merge, Hit Forge, RESOLUTE Partners, Maurice Werdegar  €1.5m SERIES A

Apr 2014 Seaya Ventures, Brendan Wallace, Kevin Laws, Marc Bell Ventures  $8m SERIES A

Oct 2014 Seaya Ventures  $4m SERIES B

Oct 2015* Seaya Ventures, Rakuten, Variv Capital, Winklevoss Capital, Daniel Curran, Peter Livingston      $12m SERIES B

Apr 2016 Rakuten  $120m SERIES C*

May 2017* Seaya Ventures, Rakuten, AngelList, Endeavor Catalyst  €91m SERIES D

Jan 2018* Rakuten, Endeavor Catalyst, The Venture City, GAT Investments, Liil Ventures  $160m SERIES E*

Total Funding* €369m

app.dealroom.co/companies/cabify

im Pay-Bereich:

THE CASHLESS FUTURE IS COMING

Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten, Inc.

Someday soon, money as we know it — the bills and coins we count and carry with us — will be as quaint and collectible as vinyl records. Consumers are already comfortable with credit and debit cards, and mobile payment apps like Rakuten Pay, the QR code payment platform most frequently used by Japan smartphone users, are quickly growing in popularity around the world.

Now the next evolution is upon us: the completely cashless business. This will usher in new advances in business efficiency and consumer convenience.

rakuten.today/blog/cashless-future-business.html

Vergleicht das einmal mit den Europäern, die sich in diesem Bereich von den Amis die Butter vom Brot klauen ließen, während sie in Japan gegen Rakuten nicht eine Schnitte abbekommen.

Japan’s top mobile payments solution

In just two years, the Rakuten Pay app has firmly established its position as Japan’s top mobile payments solution. Research conducted by Rakuten through Intage in 2018 revealed that Rakuten Pay not only has the most users, but also enjoys the highest customer satisfaction rating and the most attractive incentives among payment apps.

The app takes advantage of Rakuten’s ubiquitous ID system in Japan, connecting seamlessly to the Rakuten Ecosystem: Users need only to log in with their Rakuten ID and select a payment card. Shoppers can elect to pay using Rakuten Super Points instead of a credit card, and can even earn points back on purchases.

Adding to the app’s success is the large number of stores that accept it. Currently over 1.2 million locations are part of Rakuten’s payment network, from Rakuten Pay to Rakuten Edy, Rakuten Point Card and Rakuten Card affiliate stores.

rakuten.today/blog/japans-favorite-mobile-payment-app.html

www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/...a5bce167#section-overview

machen wird - hier das Beispiel "New York":

feverup.com/...&utm_referrer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.de%2F

Noch sind es weniger als 10 Städte, die Fever abdeckt, aber es werden m.E. sicher mehr werden. Und sie deckt sich hervorragend mit den anderen Aktivitäten von Rakuten.

Apr.15 -- Siu Rui Quek, co-founder and chief executive officer at Carousell, discusses the company’s expansion plans in Asia, fundraising, where he sees opportunity, expanding into the U.S. and combating counterfeit goods. He speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syRUNm6uujE

Beteiligungsquote von Rakuten an Careem wären das zischen 465 und 620 Millionen Dollar für Rakuten:

www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/...naher-osten-boersengang

Japan's Rakuten invests $100m in Dubai rival of Uber
Careem marks latest ride-hailing investment for e-commerce group
December 19, 2016 02:45 JST

TOKYO -- Rakuten has taken part in Dubai-based ride-sharing startup Careem's latest funding round, the Japanese internet services company said Monday, with an estimated pledge of $100 million.
Careem said it has received $350 million in commitments primarily from Rakuten and Saudi Telecom Co.

asia.nikkei.com/Business/...vests-100m-in-Dubai-rival-of-Uber

OCTOBER 18, 2018 / 6:33 AM / 9 MONTHS AGO
Mideast ride-hailing app Careem secures $200 mln new funding

The $200 million was the first close of a funding round in which it expects to raise over $500 million, Careem said in a statement.

The $200 million raised from existing investors also includes Saudi Arabia’s Al Tayyar Group and STV, and Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, Careem said.

www.reuters.com/article/careem-funding/...nding-idUSL3N1WY222

Rakuten Marketing nutzt innovative, datengesteuerte Technologien, um Markenunternehmen dabei zu unterstützen, Verbraucher mit zeitnahen und authentischen digitalen Werbeerlebnissen zu erreichen. Bahnbrechende KI und maschinelles Lernen, gepaart mit einzigartigen Daten und Beständen aus dem Rakuten-Ökosystem, ermöglichen es Markenunternehmen, neue Zielgruppen zu identifizieren und bestehende wieder zu gewinnen. Diese prädiktive Technologie ermöglicht es Rakuten Marketing, wertvolle Erfahrungen zu sammeln, die Menschen lieben, was zu einer kosteneffizienten Leistung seiner integrierten Marketinglösungen führt: Affiliate, Display und Search.

Rakuten Marketing ist eine Abteilung von Rakuten Inc. (4755: TOKYO), eines der weltweit führenden Internet Service Unternehmen. Das Unternehmen hat seinen Hauptsitz in San Mateo, Kalifornien, und unterhält Niederlassungen in Australien, Singapur, Brasilien, Japan, Deutschland, Frankreich, dem Vereinigten Königreich und den USA.

rakutenmarketing.com/de-de/...eren-jeden-dritten-verbraucher/


OCTOBER 18, 2018 / 6:33 AM / 9 MONTHS AGO

Singapore’s Carousell appoints former head of Rakuten Marketing to oversee its advertising business
Carousell is ramping up its advertizing offering for clients.
By Zhixin Tan Mon Jul 22 2019

Prior to joining Carousell, Eastwood was the Asia Pacific managing director at Rakuten Marketing where he led the expansion of Rakuten Marketing’s programmatic, affiliate and search businesses across Asia Pacific. He has also spent time at eBay, Microsoft and Rocket Fuel.

Rakuten is one of Japan’s largest internet companies and was founded in Tokyo in 1997. It operates multiple e-commerce, fintech, and content platforms and is a prolific global tech investor, including in companies like Pinterest, Lyft, and Careem. Carousell is also one of its investments.

At Carousell, Eastwood will manage the company’s advertising strategy for clients ranging from the general sectors like lifestyle goods, to high-value verticals such as cars and property.

kr-asia.com/...-marketing-to-oversee-its-advertising-business

aggressive like Jio in India.

www.livemint.com/companies/news/...pu-fall-1563595889032.html

Preis gehen, da Rakuten über sein Netzwerk die Kunden auch anderweitig bekommt.

Zudem entsprechen Vernichtungsfeldzüge der Konkurrenz nicht unbedingt der Firmenphilosophie von Rakuten, die durchaus bereit sind sich vorerst mit der Nummer 4 in dem Markt mit vier Teilnehmern abzufinden und schon bisher mit seinen Konkurrenten zusammenarbeitet und das auch in Zukunft in Teilgebieten tun will.

sports.rakuten.com/

Tokyo-based Base Food, developing nutritionally complete food products capable of becoming staple foods named Base Pasta and Base Bread, announced on Monday that it has secured 400 million yen (about $3.7 million US) in a series A round. Participating investors in this round are Rakuten Ventures, XTech Ventures, Global Brain, and several unnamed angel investors. This follows their previous seed round funding from Global Brain back in November of 2017.

With this funding, the startup expects to expand their business globally in partnership with Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten, the parent of Rakuten Ventures. We were told that this effort targets the US market in particular, where two-thirds of their adults and one-third of children overweight or obese and are trying to be more conscious about nutrition and health management.

thebridge.jp/en/2019/05/base-food-series-a-round-funding

global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/documents/annual.html