SAO PAULO Softbank backed Brazilian gift bank CRM&BONUS has acquired Zipper, a platform that creates systems for social media sales, for 25 million reais, or $4.7 million, the companies said.
The acquisition allows us to increase offers to retailers to help them raise sales, said Alexandre Zolko, CEO and founder of CRM&BONUS, in an interview with Reuters.
A giftback company puts discount coupons from retailers onto their mobile phones for online or in-store purchases.
CRM&BONUS, founded in 2018, does this for Brazilian retailers.
It was last year valued at 1 billion reais $189 million in a funding round led by Softbank Group Corp and Riverwood, followed by venture capital funds Volpe Capital and Igah Ventures. Zipper also creates personal e-commerce websites for salespeople of physical stores, enabling them to contact customers and send targeted ads using their mobile phones to draw customers to specific stores, and allows them to send targeted advertisements using geolocation.
The German athletic wear company Adidas and the chocolate maker Kopenhagen are among its clients. CRM&BONUS will pay part of the acquisition in cash and part in shares.
CRM&BONUS is using the 280 million reais raised in the last funding round for M&A to increase its international expansion. It acquired ChefsClub, a restaurant platform with an unknown value.
It is currently operating in Mexico and Portugal.
We don't burn cash, so we can use the funding round proceeds for expansion, said Zolko. Zipper has also reached break even, he added.