
Simply put, Viber understands how people actually want to engage and have built the only service that truly delivers on all fronts.” Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani explained in a Tokyo press conference that the company sees Viber as “the most consistently high quality and convenient messaging and VoIP experience available. Viber already has over 800 million users worldwide, and addingīetter shopping features could turn that number into dollars.Billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani´s company Rakuten buys Viber Internet messaging and calling service for $900 million.īillionaire Hiroshi Mikitani is called “Miki“.Estimated net worth of $6.4 billion () "Amazon of Japan," so a direction towardsĪn e-commerce strategy isn't really out of left field. To be preparing to compete with other major players in the market.Īlthough Viber started out out as simple messaging service, Rakuten is aīig-name retailer that's already been dubbed the With Rakuten Viber purchasing Chatter Commerce, the company appears Service that comes with the company's shopping features built right Amazon on the other hand is already rumored Shopping features for its Messenger app by using bots and integrating Slowly becoming a platform for online shopping.

The acquisition also comes at a time when instant messaging is now The United States have used the feature since it launched. Viber claims that 30 percent of its users in Now that Rakuten owns both Viber and Chatter Commerce, it'sĮxpected that the company will now expand the capabilities of the Strategy" and make sure that Viber is pushed into new markets,Ĭould Launch Stand-Alone Messaging App 'Anytime,' Here Are The Will now "steer the company's global mobile commerce Lasker will now be the new global head of e-commerce at Viber. Today their objective is to dramatically expand the role messaging apps "Rakuten Viber's innovative vision extends beyond the minorĭetails of feature optimization that most messaging apps are focused on "We founded Chatter Commerce on the basis that people shouldīe able to do much more in their chats than what is currentlyĪvailable," Chatter Commerce co-founder and CEO This means that Viber might be planning onįurther expanding its e-commerce plans for the chat app. With Rakuten Viber's acquisition, Chatter Commerce's team The small startup only had sevenĮngineers and they are based in San Francisco. Rakuten invested $1.25 million to Chatter Commerce during its initial () purchased Viber back in 2014 for $900 million. Not only did Chatter Commerce already have connections with Viberīefore the acquisition, it was also heavily funded by Rakuten, the Same startup that created the ShopChat service, making this new That feature was made possible through the technology that'sīeing used by the service called ShopChat. To local retailers' catalogs and will let user shop/browse for This year with a feature called Instant Shopping. Shopping right inside the Viber app was first made possible earlier Integrating shopping within the chat app. Financial details were notĭisclosed, but the acquisition signals Viber's hopes of further

The Viber app's parent company Rakuten Viber has acquired theĮ-commerce startup Chatter Commerce. APA style: Viber Acquires The Startup That Created ShopChat.Viber Acquires The Startup That Created ShopChat." Retrieved from 2017 IBT Media, formerly dba International Business Times 07 Nov.
Who owns viber free#
MLA style: "Viber Acquires The Startup That Created ShopChat." The Free Library.
