Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
TORONTO, Aug. 14, 2018 /CNW/ - Summer break is coming to an end and many Canadian parents are turning to online shopping methods as an alternative to the brick and mortar experience for the back-to-school season. Consistent with last year, a full two-thirds of Canadian parents are planning to do at least some of their back-to-school shopping online this year (67 per cent), allotting roughly 31 per cent of their budget to online spending, according to a recent poll by Ebates.ca.
https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/...-to-school-deals-6497706
Jul 18, 2018
Spanish startup Glovo, whose platform lets app users summon a gig economy worker to shop on their behalf, be it for a takeaway burger or a multi-bag supermarket shop, has bagged a €115 million (~$134M) Series C round of funding. Spanish press are reporting the round values Glovo’s business at more than €300M.
The lead investors in the Series C are Rakuten Capital, Seaya Ventures and Cathay Innovation, which had also invested in its Series B.
Commenting on the Series C, Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, a managing partner at Rakuten Capital, told us: “Delivery is becoming increasingly global in reach. At Rakuten Capital, we are very excited about outstanding companies like Glovo, which continue to strike a mark by operating with utmost efficiency and filling an obvious gap in demand in Southern Europe, LatAm and beyond.
“Glovo continues to attract great new partners, with a round that was three times oversubscribed, as testament to Oscar Pierre’s leadership and the strength of Glovo’s model.”
https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/18/...its-on-demand-delivery-business/
Tokyo, June 11, 2018 - Rakuten, Inc. today announced that it will establish a new customer support facility for the C2C marketplace app Rakuma, operated by Rakuten, Inc. and Rakuten Group subsidiary Fablic, inc. The 'Rakuma CS Niigata Office' will open on June 11, 2018. With the new facility, Rakuten will increase the number of customer support staff in order to create an environment in which users can utilize the Rakuma service more safely and securely.
https://www.marketscreener.com/...medium=RSS&utm_content=20180611
19 Jul 2018
Rakuten Lifull Stay Inc. has signed an agreement with short-term accommodation developer and marketer WaQoo, to jointly promote lodging facilities in Japan.
Announced on Wednesday, the business agreement aims to attract tourists who want to stay at temple and shrine accommodations to experience the country’s cultural heritage. Both the firms will also develop housing facilities.
Rakuten Lifull Stay is co-owned by Rakuten Inc. (51 percent) and Lifull Co. Ltd. (49 percent). The joint venture has signed listing-sharing agreements with five vacation rental marketplaces: Austin-based HomeAway, South Korean Yanolja, Taiwanese AsiaYo.com, Beijing-based Tujia.com and Amsterdam-based Booking.com.
https://aimgroup.com/2018/07/19/...en-lifull-stay-ties-up-with-waqoo/
The mission of Rakuten's CBT is (1) deliver attractive product from Japan to customers all over the world, and (2) empower Japanese companies and economics by creating new demand from those customers.
https://mu.linkedin.com/jobs/view/...;trk=jobs_jserp_job_listing_text
https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/24363/...er-ecommerce-retail-2021/
28. Juni 2018
Der Uber-Konkurrent Lyft hat seine Bewertung innerhalb eines Jahres verdoppelt. Ergebnis der jüngsten Finanzierungsrunde: eine Gesamtbewertung von gut 15 Milliarden Dollar.
Der Uber-Rivale Lyft hat in seiner jüngsten Finanzierungsrunde eine Gesamtbewertung von gut 15 Milliarden Dollar erreicht.
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/auto/...dollar-bewertet/22748920.html
Amazon is a great company. The thing is, Rakuten is different from Amazon. We have certain services that are similar, such as e-commerce and digital content where we compete. But Rakuten has all the financial services vertical, which is very different from any competitor. And we also have different business models. For example, Rakuten is stronger in the business-to-business-to-consumer model, the concept of marketplace. In digital content, we are trying to develop a closer relationship not only with Hollywood productions, but also local productions. In that sense, we have competing services, but a different DNA.
Talk a bit more about how you position and want to promote Rakuten TV!
We really want to make it a very strong and unique proposition based on two pillars. One is a stronger focus on movies than our competitors. We have the positioning "Your Cinema at Home" and have content deals with all the major Hollywood studios and local partners. We think that there is an opportunity while our competitors have been more focused on TV shows. And second, we have the eco-system. It’s not only about Rakuten TV, but all the Rakuten services, which will differentiate us.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/...n-fc-barcelona-deal-1023785
AUGUST 22, 2018
Michael Tamblyn, President and CEO, Rakuten Kobo
As an avid book lover, I couldn’t be more excited about the new digital book options now available through Walmart eBooks by Rakuten Kobo. As we begin this new partnership, I wanted to share a little about who we are.
Rakuten Kobo was created in 2009 to empower booklovers to read more by delivering the best digital reading experience possible. We began internationally where we built everything – infrastructure, apps, payment processing, e-commerce stack – knowing we would be operating in multiple countries, in multiple currencies and in multiple languages. This enabled us to quickly expand all over the world. Today, we deliver content in 190 countries and have localized online stores in 24 of those countries.
Although we are a company that focuses on selling a digital product, retailers and store experiences have always been an important part of the mix in every country we operate in. That’s why we’re excited to partner with Walmart as we grow in the U.S. market. Together, we can provide even more people with a great reading experience, whether that’s print, digital or both.
https://rakuten.today/blog/walmart-kobo.html?
utm_source=Walmart%E2%80%99s+New+Digital+Book+Offering+is+Worth+Exploring&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS+Reader
TOKYO, Feb. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Genesis Healthcare Co., Japan's pioneer genetic testing and research company, has completed a third-party equity allocation to Rakuten, Inc. (TSE: 4755) and Omron Healthcare Co., Ltd. Genesis' Capital has increased to 3.78 billion yen, and Genesis' post-money valuation is approximately 42 billion yen .
As the market leader in the genetic testing and research field in Japan, Genesis has actively pursued development of the Japanese scientific landscape through numerous R&D, product development, awareness raising via human resource development and advanced education, and genetic data translation into useful solutions. As of today, the company's Japanese genetic data platform exceeds 550,000 individuals, the largest in Japan and potentially in Asia. In 2018, Genesis aims to accumulate data of 1 million people, or 1% of the population in Japan.
This will be Rakuten's second investment since its initial investment in August 2017. Rakuten's commitment to assist in the development and advancement of genetic technology and its useful applications in healthcare is a novel approach to fostering innovation.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...-yen-newly-300604559.html
Steht Pinterest kurz vor Börsengang?
Die Geschäfte laufen für Pinterest gut: Der Anzeigenverkauf brummt, der Umsatz steigt. Ein Grund mehr für die Foto- und Linkplattform, den Gang an die Börse anzustreben. Mitte 2019 soll es soweit sein.
Im vergangenen Jahr setzte Pinterest rund 500 Millionen US-Dollar mit seinen Anzeigenplätzen um, nicht zuletzt dank der Beliebtheit von Pinterests mobiler App. Tendenz steigend: Der Anzeigenverkauf soll sich im laufenden Jahr gar verdoppeln - und bei Pinterest derzeit den Wunsch verstärken, schon bald an die Börse zu gehen.
Nach der letzten Finanzierungsrunde im Juni 2017 wurde Pinterest mit 12,3 Milliarden US-Dollar bewertet. Derzeit wird das Unternehmen jedoch auf 13 bis 15 Milliarden US-Dollar Wert geschätzt - der guten Anzeigenverkäufe sei Dank. Doch über den Gang an die Börse könnte sich die Bewertung signifikant steigern, so die Überlegung. Laut CNBC plant das Unternehmen dementsprechend seinen IPO bereits für Mitte des kommenden Jahres.
https://www.internetworld.de/social-media/...boersengang-1557038.html
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 02:00
Our impression of Rakuten's June quarter results is mixed. On the positive side, we are encouraged with the solid growth of its fintech segment, including the contribution of the acquired insurance business, which will reinforce Rakuten's ecosystem. And in addition, profits from the investment of Rakuten Capital is also supporting its profitability. On the negative side, the slower revenue growth and margin contraction of domestic EC business suggest harsh competition in this field. Accordingly, we made minor updates to our earnings forecasts, which does not change our fair value estimate of JPY 1,080.
https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rakuten-inc/insights"
With a whopping 1,413,232 properties to choose from and 118,478 destinations in 226 countries and territories worldwide, there’s no wonder that more than 1,200,000 room nights are reserved every day on the Booking platform. Viber’s Chat Extensions enable users to choose a specific location and date, pick out their preferred hotel, and book it immediately. Tourism brands can benefit from the possibilities of enabling users to gain access to their service in a brand-new way through chat extensions. The more brands are using chat extensions, the more users will neglect regular online searches for hotels and flights and simply opt for trusted brand offerings that are right in front of them. Building this level of trust with customers is invaluable in the Engagement Economy.
https://blog.marketo.com/2017/08/incorporate-chat-marketing-plan.html
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/...ectors-without-borders
Dazu gehen auf:
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
und dort auswählen: 18Q2A_E.pdf
will do well. In the market and in media reports, there is an assumption that the business
won’t go well, but what is it that we aren’t understanding? What appeal does the Japanese
market have? What is the upside appeal?
A. (Amin)
Let me answer your first question about our confidence that this will succeed. I will give you
an analogy of the place I came from in India. Like Rakuten, almost every media doubted our
ability to build a green field network and disrupt the market.
This is the approach that we have taken. First, build simple, next-generation technology. In
Japan, there is no such thing as simplicity and next-generation is still in transformation.
Even something as simple as Voice over LTE (VoLTE), in India, many companies said it will
not work. But VoLTE has a significant cost implication, it is much cheaper to carry voice over
LTE than traditional 3G voice. The technology choices we have made are very elegant. I am
anxious to show you guys. I cannot wait, but I have to hold back. I don’t want the secrets
about what we are working on to go out yet. We’re very confident. The cost implication of
our reduction has everything to do with the technology choices we have made. If you ask
yourself the difference between a software-defined network versus legacy you will start
mapping out clearly our strategy. The technology impact of this network is very different.
What you will see is when we talk about simplicity, simplicity in terms of deployment,
simplicity in terms of construction, simplicity of doing the physical tasks in the field. I am
hopeful sometime in December we could go and show you what is different about this
Rakuten network.
Second, is our business model. In India, we disrupted the business model. When Jio
entered the market in India, in less than 100 days. We put 170 million customers on the
network. It’s common sense. Great technology, great choices, great disruption and business
model. I am fascinated by Japan. I think it’s well overdue for disruption. So we are very
confident. If you wait a little longer, you will see the results of where we are. We want to
accelerate all the deployment plans. You will see some of the solutions we are talking about:
outdoor, indoor network in the core. It is very tough for me to sit here and speak just a little
about what we have done. We are seriously ahead of schedule.
(Yamada)
I myself am communicating with the contractors. They may not be talking about this due to
the duty of confidentiality, but I would like to state that we are making progress.
STOCK STRATEGIST
Uber May Pick Up Investors in Its IPO
Ali Mogharabi
27 Jul 2018
Based on our analysis and using publicly available data on Uber's financials from The Wall Street Journal as a starting point, we value Uber at a $110 billion market capitalization, ahead of the company's last valuation round of nearly $62 billion in May, according to PitchBook. We project that Uber's net revenue will grow at a 27% average annual pace over the next 10 years to $82.4 billion. We foresee Uber continuing to spend on expansion and research and development but think it will become profitable by 2022. The company is likely to go public during the second half of 2019, and considering its success at raising capital, we expect the initial public offering price to value Uber between $100 billion and $110 billion.
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/875086/...estors-in-its-ipo.html
https://www.focus.de/finanzen/experten/...t-aufmischt_id_7468440.html
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
then Downloads and there: 18Q2A_E.pdf
Most interesting insight: Over 380 million interactions with the chatbot so far and ~30 million predictions have been made!
Most surprising data: Based on their data, the chatbot generated an unbelievable retention rate 9x higher than the average for other chatbots.
How has your engagement progressed since the start of the World Cup? Viber has seen a steady growth of new subscribers since the knockout stage and already has more than 3 million engaged users.
https://www.chatbotsummit.com/blog/our-favorite-world-cup-bots-2018