E-commerce is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry, and is the largest sector of the electronics industry.
Rakuten Group, Inc. is a Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo, founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997. Centered around Rakuten Ichiba, its businesses include financial services utilizing financial technology, as well as digital content and communications services such as the messaging app Viber, e-book distributor Kobo, and Japan's fourth mobile carrier Rakuten Mobile. Rakuten has more than 28.000 employees worldwide, operating in 29 countries and regions, and its revenues totaled US $7.2 billion with operating profits of about US$347.9 million as of 2016. Rakuten was the official sponsor of the Spanish football club FC Barcelona from 2017 until 2021, and the Golden State Warriors of the NBA, as of 2022. It is often referred to as the "Amazon of Japan".
Paysafecard is a prepaid online payment method based on vouchers with a 16-digit PIN code, independent of bank account, credit card, or other personal information. Customers can purchase vouchers at local sales outlets and pay online by entering the code at the checkout of the respective website. Paysafecard codes are not designated to be passed by mail or telephone.
Rakuten.com/shop was an e-commerce marketplace based in San Mateo, California. Previously known as Buy.com, it was founded in 1997 by Scott Blum. In 2010, it was purchased by Japanese company Rakuten, and rebranded as Rakuten.com. This business was shut down by Rakuten in 2020.
Shopify Inc. is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Shopify is the name of its proprietary e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. The Shopify platform offers online retailers a suite of services including payments, marketing, shipping and customer engagement tools.
Klarna Bank AB, commonly referred to as Klarna, is a Swedish fintech company that provides online financial services such as payments for online storefronts and direct payments along with post-purchase payments.
Block, Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and launched its first platform in 2010. It has been traded as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange since November 2015 with the ticker symbol SQ.
Payoneer Global Inc. is an American financial services company that provides online money transfer, digital payment services and provides customers with working capital.
Braintree is a Chicago-based company specializing in mobile and web payment systems for e-commerce companies. The company was acquired by PayPal on September 26, 2013.
Electronic commerce or e-commerce in Southeast Asia is the buying and selling of products and services over the internet in the countries of Southeast Asia. These practices reached Southeast Asia during the dot-com mania in the 1990s. After the dot-com bust, local e-companies have seen promising growth in this sector.
Coinbase Global, Inc., branded Coinbase, is an American publicly traded company that operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. Coinbase is a distributed company; all employees operate via remote work and the company lacks a physical headquarters. It is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume. The company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. In May 2020, Coinbase announced it would shut its San Francisco, California headquarters and change operations to remote-first, part of a wave of several major tech companies closing headquarters in San Francisco in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Solavei was a social commerce network offering contract-free mobile service in the United States. The company was known for its use of incentivized referral plans and social network advertising program. In addition to its mobile phone services, Solavei operated a social commerce network for its users. Ryan Wuerch founded the company in 2012. As of 2013, Solavei had 140 employees and was valued by investors at $120 million. The company has been described as a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, or of being very similar to a MLM company.
Freecharge is an Indian financial services company based in Gurugram. It allows users to pay bills such as electricity, gas and telephone, as well as recharge mobile, broadband, DTH and metro cards. In addition, it enables the users to invest in mutual funds and get credit through Freecharge EMI.
Ripple Labs, Inc. is an American technology company which develops the Ripple payment protocol and exchange network. Originally named Opencoin and renamed in 2015, the company was founded in 2012 and is based in San Francisco, California.
Circle is a peer-to-peer payments technology company. It was founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville in October 2013. Circle is the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, with US$55 billion in circulation as of August 2022.
Domenic Carosa is an Australian businessman from Melbourne, Australia. Carosa was the co-founder of the digital music company, Destra Corporation. At the age of 25, Destra was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, making Carosa the youngest CEO to manage a company on the Securities Exchange in Australian history.
Stellar, or Stellar Lumens, is an open source, decentralized protocol for digital currency to fiat money low-cost transfers which allows cross-border transactions between any pair of currencies. The Stellar protocol is supported by a Delaware nonprofit corporation, the Stellar Development Foundation, though this organization does not enjoy 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status with the IRS.
ShopBack is a cashback reward program available across the Asia-Pacific (APAC). It allows online shoppers to receive a small percentage of their purchases on the platform, paid for through affiliate programs by the merchant. The platform also provides coupons, voucher codes, product comparison, QR code payment, and most recently, buy-now-pay-later. It has 30 million users.
Wealthsimple Inc. is a Canadian online investment management service. The firm was founded in September 2014 by Michael Katchen, Brett Huneycutt and Rudy Adler and is based in Toronto. As of November 2021, the firm holds over C$15 billion in assets under management. It is primarily owned by Power Corporation indirectly at 70.1% through investments made through their holdings in Power Financial, IGM Financial and Portag3.
Kumu is a Filipino video sharing and e-commerce social networking service owned and developed by Kumumedia Technologies, Inc. The social media platform is used to livestream curated programs created by app users and partner brands and as an e-commerce platform for app users and partner brands who want to sell their merchandise online. It was founded in 2017 and launched on Android and iOS devices in February 2018. Kumu caters mainly to the Philippine market and overseas Filipinos. In October 2020, the app topped the download charts of both the Apple App Store and Google Play in the free apps category. The app aims to become a "super app" that combines the functionalities of other apps like YouTube, TikTok, Shopee, Instagram and Facebook Messenger into one. Kumu is considering adding offline events to its platform, such as fan meetings with popular livestreamers and a convention inspired by Comic-Con called Kumu-Con, and expand beyond livestreaming to e-commerce and payments.
