"We're proud to provide the infrastructure and licensing for global companies like Rakuten Viber, one of the world's most trusted and recognized messaging and communications platforms, to develop their own financial services without them having to build the foundation from scratch. "The future of payments is integrated fintech, and this partnership demonstrates why we founded Rapyd in the first place: to democratize fintech for all," says Arik Shiltman, CEO of Rapyd. As a result of this integration with Rapyd, Rakuten Viber is one of the first messaging platforms in the world to bring instant digital payments capabilities into its existing platform, allowing millions of its current users to conduct seamless digital personal and business transactions without having to leave the Viber app. Over 70% of smartphone users globally – more than 180 million smartphone users – are expected to use peer-to-peer mobile payments by the year 2026. Its first attempt to monetise its messaging app was the introduction of its Sticker Market, which it launched in October last year.By selecting Rapyd as its first official payments partner, Rakuten Viber enters the global digital payments market. Viber Out brings Viber into more direct competition with Skype, which also supports voice calls to “traditional” phone numbers. Viber recently boosted its efforts to generate revenue by introducing functionality that enables users to make low-cost calls to any mobile or landline phone number. The company made a net loss of $29.51 million in 2013, compared with $14.73 million loss in 2012. Last year was the first in which Viber generated revenue, which stood at $1.52 million. News of the deal follows Talmon Marco, the CEO of Viber, denying that the company was in talks to be acquired by an Asian company earlier this week, following reports in an Israeli publication Calcalist.Īccording to Rakuten, 11.4 per cent of Viber is owned by the Marco family. Viber, like WhatsApp, has a more global user base, which would allow Rakuten to move into new markets, supporting its ambitions to become the biggest internet services company globally. All of these messaging services have user bases that stretch into the hundreds of millions but which are predominantly located in particular regions. It is also quickly growing its user base, particularly in emerging markets.Īsia has seen the rise of a number of messaging apps, most notably WeChat in China, LINE in Japan and KakaoTalk in South Korea. Viber has 280 million global registered users in nearly 200 countries and more than 100 million monthly active users.
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