Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Mercari is the leader in Japan among app-based bazaars, followed by second-ranked Fril and No. 3 Rakuma. Fril and Rakuma see roughly 10 billion yen ($91.6 million) worth of items distributed each month. Mercari topped that threshold in the latter part of 2016, and reached a download count in Japan of 60 million at the end of last year. Its transaction volume for recent months has not been made public.  
“We project annual merchandise sales [for the flea market apps] will reach around 200 billion yen a year in the middle of 2018,” said Rakuten President Hiroshi Mikitani. The consolidation of the apps will also streamline plans to tie in other services, such as its core Rakuten Ichiba e-commerce platform.

www.asiaventurepedia.com/2018/02/06/...-to-counter-top-rival/

Erfolgsgeschichte:

techcrunch.com/2018/02/26/...ryone-else-adds-3-million-users/

However it’s beginning to look like the first of the automated wealth management firms to reach a $1B valuation may be Acorns.

If, for the sake of argument, Acorns did reach 2 million users this year, a $1B valuation would equate to around $33 per user. How realistic is this? Certainly Acorn’s average account balance of just $156, compared to Wealthfront’s approximately $80,000, makes Acorns appear a long way from Unicorn status.

But Acorns has a longer-term game plan. Millennials have assets estimated at over $2 trillion and as they pay down the burden of college loans, increase savings and inherit wealth, this demographic will eventually bypass Boomers as the wealthiest demographic and the core focus for wealth managers.
For aspiring investors, starting small can be a good thing, as long as they keep going. “It’s easier to part with $1 fifty times than it is to part with $50 once,” said Jeff Cruttenden, co-founder of Acorns.

wmtoday.com/2016/03/07/...e-only-roboadvisor-worth-1-billion/

www.geldueberweisen.com/azimo-geldtransfer-erfahrungen/

"Die Plattform zählt aktuell rund 500.000 Nutzer, das Potenzial schätzt das Unternehmen auf weltweit rund fünf Milliarden User. Das Asien-Geschäft von Azimo macht bereits mehr als 30 Prozent aller Transaktionen aus, wobei die Philippinen und Thailand Kernmärkte sind.

“Die japanische Rakuten hat eine starke Präsenz in Asien, sie verstehen den Markt für Consumer Financial Services und als Eiogwentümer von Viber ist sie ein signifikanter Player im Markt für Social Messaging [… ] Die Partnerschaft wird unsere Expansion in Asien beschleunigen und uns dabei unterstützen, unser Ziel der Entwicklung von tieferen Social Network Integrationen zu erreichen“, sagt Michael Kent, CEO und Mitgründer von Azimo."

www.it-times.de/news/...chrichten.de&utm_medium=CustomFeed

Key Statistics

P/E Ratio 9.40
Price to Book Ratio 1.5296
Price to Sales Ratio 0.9924

www.bloomberg.com/quote/4755:JP

Viber Banking is our latest Fintech solution enabling banks and financial institutions enter today’s instant messaging era and interact with their customers in various exciting new ways. This primarily helps them retain and attract today’s digitally-savvy customers by quickly and easily extending banking services to the already popular instant messaging platform. With this solution, banking becomes as easy as it can be and conveniently accessible to a high volume of customers.

www.f1soft.com/viber-banking.html

Currencycloud, the leading international payment platform, today announced the launch of South Korea’s first remittance service by a non-bank, following its strategic partnership with the country’s leading credit card company, Hyundai Card.

The news builds on Currencycloud’s momentum in Asia-Pacific, with the UK-headquartered fintech signing 14 partnerships in the region in the past year and growing the volume of payments in the region by 66% in the past year since Q1 2017.

These partnerships include agreements to process business payments between the West and China with X-Transfer and to deliver local payouts in Europe with Geoswift. A strategic partnership has also been signed with EasyPay to facilitate the collections process for Hong Kong merchant service providers.

www.finextra.com/pressarticle/74244/...ip-with-hyundai/retail

Online lending startup Upstart is hoping to raise about $100 million in funding.

According to Bloomberg, one source said that the California-based startup is looking to sell shares that would value the business at $500 million to $1 billion.

While a spokeswoman for Upstart said the company isn’t currently raising funds, she does anticipate completing “a final private round” over the next year. She added that the company became profitable last year, while the value of loan transactions increased threefold and gross revenue went up fourfold.

Last year, the company announced a $32 million round of funding led by Rakuten, the Japanese eCommerce company. That brought Upstart’s total amount raised to $85 million. At the time, the company said it would put the money toward future growth, as well as to help license the technology to banks, credit unions and retailers.

www.pymnts.com/loans/2018/...upstart-funding-venture-capital/

Today, three years later, I am proud to say that we’ve turned our idea into a game-changing reality for thousands of working class families across America. Our white label platform, LENDIFY, operates behind more than 30 brand names ranging from supermarket chains to money transfer stores in over 620 locations. We power the entire loan process from A to Z: accepting applications online or in stores, providing tablets for signing loan documents, automating the underwriting, and funding the loans – with in-person or electronic disbursement. Since we made our first loan in Richmond, Calif., in late 2014, we’ve processed over 330,000 applications, made more than 125,000 loans, and expanded to Texas, Illinois and Arizona. Our typical applicant works multiple jobs, makes $28,000 per year, rents versus owns, has a 580 FICO score or no credit score at all, and has little-to-no debt. Our “powered by” model allows us to make small loans to these borrowers at much lower costs than the most savvy online lenders and at consistently lower losses, proving each borrower’s high “moral collateral.”

www.insikt.com/#/about

PLUS

Gibt es heute keine neuen Beteiligungen zu vermelden, kann doch gar nicht sein.

Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in Redwood City, California and has its development office in Ramat Gan. BlueVine has 150 employees, 60 of them in Ramat Gan and has raised $473 million in funding, including $68 million in equity financing and up to $405 million in debt financing. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, 83NORTH, Correlation Ventures, Citi Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Rakuten Fintech Fund and other private investors.

BlueVine founder and CEO Eyal Lifshitz said, "We continue to grow stronger as a technology-enabled financing provider for small businesses addressing their everyday funding needs. We're helping thousands of entrepreneurs reach their business goals with an easy-to-use platform that gives them fast and convenient online access to working capital."

www.globes.co.il/en/...ises-200m-from-credit-suisse-1001233892

UK blockchain startup Everledger, which makes tools for verifying the diamond trade, has raised $10.4 million led by the Canadian division of Fidelity Investments and GMP Securities.
The Series A round featured participation from Singaporean firm Vickers Ventures Partners, Graphene Venture Capital, and previous investors Rakuten, FPV, Fenbushi, and Bloomberg Beta.
Everledger develops blockchain-based solutions for provenance tracking and certification and is focused particularly on the diamond and jewellery industry.

“Everledger started with the purpose of building trust amongst stakeholders in global markets,” said CEO Leanne Kemp. “Having this round of financing supported by strong and credible investors is testament to our success to date in achieving that purpose, taking us from a startup to a scaleup in just three years.”

tech.eu/brief/everledger-funding/

und die Aktie steigt. @Libuda vielleicht solltest du mal ruhig sein :)))

Die ganzen Rakutenbeteiligungen sind ja schön und gut, nur sind die meisten wirklich winzig. Auch wenn diesem Bereich einiges an Potential nicht abzusprechen ist.

würde ich das aber nicht unbedingt sagen:

Rakuten Leads $530M Investment In Lyft

- Investment in Lyft represents investment in the sharing economy -
TOKYO, March 12, 2015  – Rakuten, Inc. (TOKYO: 4755), today announced that it has agreed to purchase a 11.9% stake in Lyft, the San Francisco-based ride-sharing service provider and sharing economy pioneer. Rakuten is investing $300M as the lead investor in Lyft’s series E investment round.

Hiroshi Mikitani, founder and CEO of Rakuten said: “We have seen the future and this is it. By empowering human connection, the sharing economy is going to fundamentally transform the service industry and benefit society. We believe businesses like Lyft that unlock the latent potential that exists in people and society hold the key to the future.”

global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2015/0312_01.html

Rakuten is the largest shareholder of Lyft - Lyft partners with Amtrak for first- and last-mile trip

twitter.com/hmikitani_e/status/892575183264985088

Now Valued at $7.23 Billion
By Paul Ausick April 6, 2017 2:30 pm EDT

Investors in Lyft’s latest round were not named, but previous rounds included Fortress Investment Group, Rakuten, Carl Icahn, and Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing (listed under its former name, Didi Kuaidi).

www.google.de/?gws_rd=ssl

www.breakingviews.com/features/...erick-bucks-roe-revolution/

www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/lyft-private-equity--8d3dbb26

sich meines Erachtens der Kursverlauf und die momentan absurde niedrige Bewertung nicht erklären.

www.statista.com/statistics/223334/...-group-revenue-segment/

Key Statistics for Rakuten

P/E Ratio9.95
Price to Book Ratio1.6193
Price to Sales Ratio1.0506

www.bloomberg.com/quote/4755:JP

über die USA hinaus, wo Viber nicht besonders stark ist, ausgedehnt wurde?

Viber, a messaging app, announced on Thursday (Feb. 23) that it will start showing users items that are for sale based on the current chat.

According to a report in Tech Crunch, users of Viber have to opt in by pressing a shopping bag icon at the bottom of the screen. The feature is slated to go live on March 6 in the U.S. and will eventually be launched in other markets outside of the country. In its first iteration, the new shopping function will include a selection of items from categories such as electronics, fashion and home goods.

Viber, which is owned by Rakuten, will get its shopping items from Rakuten.com as well as from 30 other brands, one of which is Macy’s. Viber also plans to have a shopping feature that is focused on deals. In the first stage of the new feature, Viber customers won’t be able to make purchases directly from the messaging app, but that could come in the future.

“We will do purchasing in Viber eventually, but we decided to launch it this way to learn more about how it is used and to get it out there as soon as possible,” said Viber’s Chief Executive Djamel Agaoua in the report. “We are looking to transform Viber into a platform without turning to ‘stupid’ advertising.”

www.pymnts.com/news/mobile-commerce/2017/...-goes-contextual/

Viber is also great for promoting your business and making deals and sales. Using Viber for business and it’s Public Account feature, you can create a mobile promoting platform to target your customers. In addition, it offers great customer service and adds a personal touch to your communication. Many companies like Coca-Cola, Violet’s Kitchen, 2Forks, Rafinery29 use Public Chats to reach its customers and improve their experience.  For example, Violet’s Kitchen uses Public Chat to talk to their customers about their products or actions regarding these products. Users can give Violet’s Kitchen feedback, establishing a relationship with the brand.

www.paldesk.com/viber-business-important-channel/

STEFAN RADOV Social Media Manager, Coca-Cola: "Our strong fanbase paired with Rakuten Viber’s active Bulgarian audience and captivating product suite made this program an instant success."

Coca-Cola is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers and bringing people together with over 500 brands and nearly 3,900 beverage choices. Pairing the brand with Viber’s connected and engaged Bulgarian audience was pivotal to its goals—boosting its mobile footprint, interacting with current and new consumers while providing an integrated digital experience—in- and out-of-app. Over a three-month period, Coca-Cola launched a Public Account, Sticker Packs with a promo code mechanism and a Chatbot experience on Viber. To maximize their reach and conversions, Coca-Cola amplified this with cross-promotion across their social channels, supporting an “under-the-cap” sweepstakes. Coca-Cola successfully engineered a comprehensive and engaging promotion strategy.
info.viber.com/rs/879-RYH-696/images/...ola_Campaign_Recap.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOxz0gZqXNc