PayPal has agreed a deal in principal to acquire reward technology platform Honey Science Corporation for approximately $4 billion.
The acquisition is expected to ‘transform’ PayPal’s customer experience as well as increase sales and customer engagement for its merchants.
“Honey is amongst the most transformative acquisitions in PayPal’s history. It provides a broad portfolio of services to simplify the consumer shopping experience, while at the same time making it more affordable and rewarding,” noted Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal.
“The combination of Honey’s complementary consumer products with our platform will significantly enhance our ability to drive engagement and play a more meaningful role in the daily lives of our consumers.”
Founded in 2012, Honey acts as a discovery tool to help consumers find the best deals and saving as they browse ecommerce sites.
The platform features a range of products including a mobile shopping assistant, offers and rewards program, and price-tracking tools and alerts. It boasts nearly 17 million monthly active users and works works across approximately 30,000 online retailers
“As a partner of choice for our merchants, this is another way that we can help them build and strengthen their customer relationships, provide personalised offers, and drive incremental sales,” continued Schulman.
“The combination of Honey and PayPal adds another significant and meaningful dimension to our two-sided platform.”
The purchase is said to complement both firm’s beliefs in simplifying and personalising shopping experiences for customers whilst also drive conversion, sales and consumer engagement for merchants.
Bringing the two together is expected to accelerate growth, with Honey now able to access PayPal and Venmo’s active consumer accounts as well as the firm’s network of 24 million merchant accounts.
“Honey’s vision has always been to give consumers the tools they need to make the best decisions with their money,” said co- founder of Honey, George Ruan.
“PayPal shares that vision and together we can build powerful commerce capabilities that create real value for both consumers and retailers around the world.”
Following the acquisition, Honey will retain its headquarters and brand in Los Angeles, California with the two co-founders leading the team which will transition to become a part of PayPal’s global consumer product and technology organisation.
Subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
“Combining PayPal’s assets and reach with our technology, we can build powerful new online shopping experiences for consumers and merchants,” added fellow co-founder Ryan Hudson.
“We’ll have the ability to help millions of retailers efficiently reach consumers with offers that deliver more and more value to Honey members.”