Japan-based internet company Rakuten has acquired Japan-based marketplace app developer Fablic for an undisclosed amount, providing an exit to recipe website Cookpad and gaming company Colopl, Japan Today reported this morning.
Founded in 2012, Fablic produces a mobile app dubbed Fril, a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace focusing primarily on fashion and beauty products that targets a young female demographic, and which has been downloaded more than five million times.
Fablic has become a wholly-owned subsidiary and will be integrated into the corporate’s ecosystem, letting users login with their Rakuten account and use their Rakuten loyalty points for purchases.
The company emerged out of incubator Open Network Lab and raised $9.2m in funding in 2014 from Cookpad, Colopl and private equity firm Jafco.
Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and chief executive of Rakuten, said: “With our leading position in e-commerce in Japan, the addition of Fablic to the Rakuten Group will accelerate the already dynamic development of C2C services in Japan and the Rakuten ecosystem.”
Shota Horii, chief executive of Fablic, added: “By leveraging Rakuten’s expertise and user base and our unique resources as a key player in the development of Japan’s dynamic C2C market, we aim to improve the Fril service offering for both new and existing users.
“We are already exploring ways to collaborate that will enable us to draw on the customer bases and respective strengths of both Fablic and the Rakuten ecosystem, enhancing usability and convenience for all users.”