Viber, the instant messaging platform owned by e-commerce firm Rakuten, has acquired Chatter Commerce, a US-based mobile commerce startup that counted Rakuten as an investor, for an undisclosed sum.
Founded in 2016, Chatter Commerce was the owner of ShopChat, a mobile platform that allowed users to locate and buy products through a keyboard that can be accessed through its app.
Rakuten had led a $1.25m round for Chatter Commerce that was disclosed when the latter emerged from stealth in March this year, investing together with unnamed angel investors from Europe and Silicon Valley.
The Rakuten investment was made as part of a strategic partnership deal that involved the ShopChat technology powering Viber’s instant shopping service. The platform was available for licence to third-party services, though it is unclear whether Rakuten will continue to do so.
All seven of the Chatter Commerce team will join Viber, and co-founder and CEO Zephrin Lasker will become its global head of e-commerce. He told TechCrunch: “We founded Chatter Commerce on the basis that people should be able to do much more in their chats than what is currently available.
“Rakuten Viber’s innovative vision extends beyond the minor details of feature optimisation that most messaging apps are focused on today their objective is to dramatically expand the role messaging apps have in people’s everyday lives.”