Rakuten has acquired Curbside, a mobile ordering and pickup startup. With the acquisition, the Tokyo-headquartered company plans to connect retailers and merchants with customers during order ahead and pickup transactions.Additionally, Curbside partners can use the Rakuten network, which includes more than 1 billion customers and merchants.
Curbside had previously raised between $40 million and $50 million in a funding round from investors including CVS, Index Ventures, Sutter Hull Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Chicago Ventures, and others.
The company, which uses predictive arrival technology to help fulfill orders, also developed ARRIVE, a mobile software designed to allow retailers to see when customers are arriving at their location for order pickup, mobile order ahead and appointment check-in. Rakuten plans to tap into this platform, which contributes to most of Curbside’s revenue, allowing merchants to include the order pickup solution alongside existing delivery options.
Advertisement
CVS, Sephora, Chipotle, Nordstrom, Pizza Hut, Chevron, Boston Market, Westfield, HEB and Yelp are among companies providing customers with the ARRIVE solution.
“Curbside is changing the way traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and restaurants are interacting with their customers,” said Yaz Iida, President at Rakuten, in a statement. “Welcoming Curbside to the Rakuten family is all about the consumer, and we are excited to be able to empower consumers with even more ways to enjoy shopping.”
Though they may later be moved to Rakuten’s offices in San Mateo, Curbside’s 60-person team will remain in its Palo Alto offices.
