Ibotta Secures Funds for Hiring and Expansion
Mobile rewards platform publisher Ibotta has announced a Series D funding round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, bringing the company to a $1 billion valuation and “unicorn” status. One of Colorado’s fastest-growing consumer tech companies, Ibotta will use the funds to improve its reward payment solution, Pay with Ibotta.
Ibotta says its mission is to make every purchase rewarding. The company’s rewards platform allows shoppers to pay for purchases through the Ibotta app and earn cash back instantly.
“While we’ve reached the point of critical-mass awareness when it comes to paying with our phones, there’s still one piece missing on the path to true adoption: rewards,” says Ibotta CEO Bryan Leach. “Through a shared vision with KDT and our expertise in rewards and consumer psychology, we are best-positioned to transform the emerging $100 trillion global payments market. The excitement of cash rewards will be the flash point in changing consumer behavior and driving adoption of new forms of mobile payments worldwide.”Ibotta has more than 35 million users and has put $600 million back into consumers’ pockets through cash rewards for making purchases in stores, through websites, and through mobile apps. The company expects to earn more than $200 million in 2019.
“KDT seeks to create win-win opportunities with our partners to create transformative value for society,” says KDT managing director Byron Knight. “Fintech, and payments specifically, is an industry ripe for innovation and disruption, and we recognize the incredible potential in Ibotta’s efforts to use rewards to completely change the way consumers shop — from when and where they shop, to what they buy, to how they pay for it. Beyond being just a capital provider, we look forward to bringing additional capabilities to help Ibotta deliver even more value back to consumers.”
The current funding initiative is timed to support Ibotta’s goals for expansion and hiring. The company is quickly becoming the largest and most successful independent tech company in Colorado, one of the state’s few few unicorn startups.
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