Ibotta

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Ibotta, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryTechnology, coupons, mobile applications
Founded2011
FounderBryan Leach
Headquarters
Area served
United States
Key people
Bryan Leach (CEO)
Luke Swanson
Rich Donahue (CMO)[1][2]
Sunit Patel (CFO)[3]
James H. Clark
Chris Jensen (CRO)[4]
Amir El Tabib (Chief Business Development Office)[5]
ServicesDirect marketing
Number of employees
950+ (2023)
Websitewww.ibotta.com

Ibotta is a North American mobile technology company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 2011, the company offers cash back rewards on various purchases through its Ibotta Performance Network and consumer properties, including mobile app, website, and browser extension.[6][7][8] Ibotta partners with CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands and network publishers to provide these rewards. As of 2024, the company operates solely in the United States and offers rewards on categories such as groceries, online shopping, general merchandise, and more, including alcohol purchases in certain locations.[9][10][11][12] The company's rewards-as-a-service offering, the Ibotta Performance Network, went live in 2021.

In August 2019, Ibotta received a $1 billion valuation after its Series D funding, and in 2023, the company surpassed $1.5 billion cash rewards paid to over 50 million consumers since the company's founding.[13]

History[edit]

Founding through early 2019[edit]

Ibotta was founded by current CEO Bryan Leach. The company was incorporated in 2011 and the app launched to both the App Store and Google Play stores in 2012.[14][15][16] In December 2012 Ibotta celebrated the signup of its 100,000th user.[17] Early investors included entrepreneur and computer scientist Jim Clark and Tom “TJ” Jermoluk, Chairman of @Home Network.[18]

In 2015, Ibotta expanded beyond item level grocery, adding the ability to get cash back on in-store retail purchases. In 2016, in-app mobile commerce began, allowing users to navigate from the Ibotta app to its partners' apps to earn cash back on purchases.[19]

In 2016 with a Series C investment, Ibotta had raised over $73 million in funding.[20][21] In March of that year, Ibotta partnered with Anheuser-Busch (BUD) to offer cash back for adults who purchased its products.[11] In May, the company partnered with LiveRamp so that companies could use their CRM data to create segmented, personalized campaigns.[22] At the time, the company had around 200 full- and part-time employees and moved from offices in Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo) to a 40,000-square-foot office in the central Denver business district.[23] A year later, the company had to expand to a second floor as it added almost another 100 employees.[15]

In 2017 Ibotta added cash back for Uber to its app as well as cash back rewards for online and mobile purchases.[15][18]

In 2018, Ibotta was listed on the Inc. 5,000 list as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S.[24] A year later, in January 2019, the Ibotta app had been downloaded more than 30 million times and users had been credited $500 million in cash back rewards.[25] That year, Ibotta was the largest mobile company in Colorado with 6 million monthly active users.[25]

August 2019 to present[edit]

In August 2019, Ibotta was valued at $1 billion, following a Series D round of funding.[26] The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, a subsidiary of Koch Industries.[26]

2019 was also the year the company introduced Pay with Ibotta, which allowed users to complete purchases at key retailers on the Ibotta app and earn instant cash back in the process.[26] With that new service, users were able to enter their purchase total and use a QR code to checkout and receive immediate cash back.[26][24]

In 2020, the company partnered with Trees for the Future to plant up to 1 million trees as part of an Earth Month campaign to raise awareness about the waste of unused paper coupons.[27] In response to  the COVID-19 pandemic, Ibotta partnered with top brands in their “Here to Help” campaign and together committed over $10 million in cash back to American consumers.[28] The company added the ability to earn cash back from online grocery pick-up and delivery orders.

Later that year, Ibotta also started its free Thanksgiving program, providing users with 100% cash back on select groceries needed for a Thanksgiving meal.[29][30] By 2022, the company had provided approximately 10 million Thanksgiving meals.[29]

In 2021, Ibotta acquired the company OctoShop (originally Instok), whose app allows users to compare prices across stores, and set restock and price-drop alerts.[31]

In April 2022, Ibotta launched the Ibotta Performance Network.[32] This network of publishers, consisting of retailers like Walmart and Dollar General and third parties like Shell, provides offers to their customers. This pay per sales, or success based performance network reaches over 200 million consumers.[33][34][32]

Athletic Partnerships[edit]

Ibotta became the official jersey patch partner of the New Orleans Pelicans for the 2020–2021 season.[35] In September 2022, the partnership was renewed for the next three seasons.[36]

In March 2023, F1 driver Logan Sargeant, the first U.S. racer to compete in F1 since 2015, partnered with Ibotta.[37] The Ibotta logo is displayed on Sargeant's racing helmet.[37] A few months later, in June, Ibotta partnered with UConn basketball player Paige Bueckers and a number of other female collegiate athletes through its female collegiate athlete collaboration with Pearpop and the Brandr Group (TBG).[38]

Ibotta became the official jersey patch partner of the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets for the 2023–2024 season.[39]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "MarTech Interview with Rich Donahue, CMO at Ibotta". June 6, 2023.
  2. ^ "Inflation finally caught up with the $45 billion convenience store industry".
  3. ^ "CFOs on the Move: Week Ending March 26".
  4. ^ "Ibotta Performance Network debuts 3X ROAS guarantee". May 15, 2023.
  5. ^ "Doubling Down on Dollar Channel Success". May 22, 2023.
  6. ^ Natanson, Elad. "How Major Brands Combine App Innovation With Old-Fashioned Marketing Principles To Win In Mobile". Forbes. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  7. ^ "Penny-Pinching Millennials Are Keeping the Coupon Alive". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  8. ^ "In a World of Constantly Deleted Apps, This Mobile Player Uses Cash to Keep Folks Coming Back". February 19, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  9. ^ Perez, Sarah (September 30, 2015). "Mobile Savings App Ibotta Scores $40 Million". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  10. ^ "Ibotta plans to hire 200-300, triple Denver office space – The Denver Post". September 28, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Free Beer! There's an App for That". Fortune. March 2, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  12. ^ Pavini, Jeanette. "How to save on holiday spirits, wine and beer". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  13. ^ D, O. (June 30, 2023). "Ibotta Users Numbers, Revenue and More in 2023". Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  14. ^ Staff, The Hustler's Digest (February 25, 2022). "How Does Ibotta Work - Perfect Guide To Ibotta For Beginners". The Hustler's Digest. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  15. ^ a b c "Ibotta expands (again!) by doubling office space in downtown Denver". The Denver Post. June 28, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  16. ^ "Ibotta, Inc. | Business Details | Better Business Bureau® Profile". www.bbb.org. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  17. ^ couponsinthenews (December 18, 2012). "Ibotta: "Earn Cash Every Time You Shop"". Coupons in the News. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  18. ^ a b Chowdhry, Amit. "How Ibotta Is Helping Every Day Consumers Save Time And Money". Forbes. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
  19. ^ Zappa, Joseph (August 31, 2016). "Ibotta Announces In-App Purchasing Capability, Partnerships with Button, Jet, DoorDash | Street Fight". streetfightmag.com. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  20. ^ Perez, Sarah (September 30, 2015). "Mobile Savings App Ibotta Scores $40 Million".
  21. ^ "Venture funding down in Colorado but firms still finding money – The Denver Post". January 14, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  22. ^ "Ibotta Launches Dynamic Segmentation, Partners With LiveRamp". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  23. ^ Cohen, Patricia (March 31, 2016). "The Cities on the Sunny Side of the American Economy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  24. ^ a b "Cashback and rebate startup Ibotta secures funding at a $1 billion valuation". VentureBeat. August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  25. ^ a b "Denver-Based Ibotta Reaches Milestone". www.cobizmag.com. January 31, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  26. ^ a b c d Flanagan, Will (August 6, 2019). "Ibotta Raises Series D at $1B Valuation, Becomes Colorado's Latest Unicorn". Colorado Inno. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  27. ^ "Denver's Ibotta To Plant Trees To Combat Paper Coupon Waste - CBS Colorado". www.cbsnews.com. April 14, 2020. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  28. ^ "Ibotta partners with CPG brands for grocery give-back". Chain Store Age. May 7, 2020. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  29. ^ a b "Ibotta Offers 3rd Annual Free Thanksgiving Dinner Program". Progressive Grocer. November 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  30. ^ "How to get a family Thanksgiving dinner for free this year". FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. November 1, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  31. ^ Pickering, Kirstie (January 30, 2023). "With 130,000 users, these college students sold their shopping browser extension to Ibotta". They Got Acquired. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  32. ^ a b "Walmart Adds Rewards Program as Shoppers Watch Budgets". www.pymnts.com. August 24, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  33. ^ Barba, Jacqueline (April 12, 2022). "Ibotta Debuts New B2B Solutions, Brand Campaign". Path to Purchase Institute. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  34. ^ Mitchell, Richard (January 20, 2023). "Dollar General partners with Ibotta to provide cash back rewards". Supermarket News. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  35. ^ Carp, Sam (November 26, 2020). "New Orleans Pelicans find jersey patch sponsor in Ibotta". SportsPro. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  36. ^ "Ibotta renews official team jersey sponsorship with the New Orleans Pelicans". www.nba.com. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
  37. ^ a b "Williams F1 driver Logan Sargeant partners with Ibotta". www.blackbookmotorsport.com. March 17, 2023. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  38. ^ Butterfield, Christine. "UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers inks new NIL deal with Ibotta". CT Insider.
  39. ^ "Ibotta Celebrates Commitment to Denver by Becoming the Official Jersey Patch Sponsor of the 2023 NBA Champion Denver Nuggets". NBA.com. October 24, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023.

External links[edit]