Japanese online retail juggernaut Rakuten is expanding its reach to South America with the acquisition of a 75% stake in Ikeda, a provider of e-commerce services to many of Brazil’s largest retailers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in São Paulo, Ikeda provides retailers with a SaaS e-commerce platform, enabling its customers to help build their desired features and provides advisory services to support their online retail operations.
Ikeda currently provides services to over 100 major retailers located all over Brazil.
Forrester forecasts the e-commerce industry in Brazil to grow at 18% annually, with total sales expected to reach approximately $22 billion by 2016.
For Rakuten, it’s a way to expand into South America rapidly. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Tokyo, Rakuten provides a variety of consumer and business-focused services including e-commerce, travel, banking, securities, credit card and e-money solutions.
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Rakuten boasts operations throughout Asia, Western Europe and North America and has over 10,000 employees worldwide.
The company recently teamed up with Baidu to invest $50 million in an online ‘B2B2C’ shopping mall for Chinese Internet users, acquired Buy.com for $250 million and subsequently spent the exact same amount purchasing France’s PriceMinister.
