 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cashback website, online coupons |
| Founded | October 2012 |
| Founders | George Ruan[1] Ryan Hudson[1] |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States[2] |
Area served | Canada, United States |
Key people | George Ruan (CEO) Ryan Hudson (Co-founder) |
Number of employees | 209 (worldwide, 2018) |
| Parent | PayPal[1] |
| Website | joinhoney |
PayPal Honey, formerly known as Honey, is an American technology company and a subsidiary of PayPal known for developing a browser extension that aggregates and automatically applies online coupons on eCommerce websites.
History
Entrepreneurs Ryan Hudson and George Ruan founded Honey[1] in November 2012 in Los Angeles, California, after building a prototype of the browser extension in late October 2012. A bug tester leaked the tool to Reddit, where it went viral.[3] By March 2014, the company had 900,000 organic users.[4]
Honey raised a $26 million Series C round, led by Anthos Capital in March 2017.[5] By January 2018, Honey raised a total of $40.8 million in venture backing.[6]
On January 6, 2020, it was acquired by PayPal for about $4 billion.[7][8][9] Nearly immediately after PayPal acquired Honey, Amazon claimed to its users that the extension was a security risk that sold personal information. A Wired magazine article, written shortly after the acquisition, questioned whether the claim was motivated by PayPal's newly acquired ability to compete against Amazon.[10]
In June 2022, the company was renamed PayPal Honey.[11]
Marketing
PayPal Honey has become known for its heavy use of YouTube advertising and channel sponsorships for its marketing. Similarly to NordVPN, Amazon's Audible and Raid: Shadow Legends, it offers paid sponsorships to popular YouTube channels to advertise the service to its viewers.[12]
In 2019, the company became a shirt sponsor of the NBA team, Los Angeles Clippers.[13]
In 2020, PayPal Honey launched a web series called "Honey Originals", where Honey partners were interviewed, including segments "20 Questions with _" and "Add To Cart with _".[14][15]
Revenue
PayPal Honey's revenue comes from a commission made on user transactions with partner retailers.[16] When a member makes a purchase from merchants partnering with the company, Honey shares part of their commission with the member in a cashback program.[17] Users are notified of price drops and price history on selected items sold by participating online stores.[18]
References
- ^ a b c d Metcalf, Tom; Verhage, Julie (January 28, 2020). "Coupon Duo Now Worth $1.5 Billion After Honey's Sale to PayPal". BloombergQuint. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
- ^ Vincent, Roger (August 1, 2018). "Online coupon firm Honey taking over historic Coca-Cola plant in Arts District". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
- ^ Shontell, Alyson (January 16, 2013). "New Coupon Startup 'Honey' Has Had 9 Successful Investor Meetings in a Row". Business Insider. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (March 25, 2014). "Honey Introduces a Universal Cart for Online Shoppers Where Savings Are Automatically Applied". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ Pierson, David (October 24, 2017). "L.A. Tech: Can't find a coupon code? This L.A. start-up does all the work for you". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ Ketchum, Dan (April 11, 2019). "Got a Problem? Turn it into a Business Like These 15 Companies". GOBankingRates. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ "PayPal Completes Acquisition of Honey" (Press release). PR Newswire. January 6, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ Taulli, Tom (November 23, 2019). "Why PayPal Paid $4 Billion for Honey Science". Forbes. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
- ^ Peters, Jay (November 20, 2019). "PayPal acquires the company behind the Honey deal-finding extension for $4 billion". The Verge. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
- ^ Lee, Dami (January 9, 2020). "Amazon suspiciously says browser extension Honey is a security risk, now that PayPal owns it". The Verge. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
- ^ "What is PayPal Honey?". PayPal Honey. June 29, 2022. Archived from the original on September 26, 2022. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
- ^ Weiss, Geoff (November 21, 2019). "Browser Extension 'Honey', a Frequent Shane Dawson and MrBeast Sponsor, Acquired for $4 Billion". Tubefilter. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
- ^ "What is 'Honey' on the Clippers' uniforms? Explaining LA's jersey sponsorship patch". www.sportingnews.com. April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
- ^ 20 Questions with MrBeast | Honey Originals. Honey. July 1, 2019. Retrieved September 26, 2022 – via YouTube. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Add to Cart with Gibi ASMR | Honey Originals. Honey. March 21, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2022 – via YouTube. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Rey, Jason Del (April 2, 2018). "Honey — the under-the-radar coupon startup — has held talks to raise around $100 million in a new investment". Recode. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
- ^ Kane, Libby (November 17, 2017). "A struggling dad built an app to buy his kids cheaper pizza — and now his company has 5 million downloads and $40 million". Business Insider. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
- ^ Ellingson, Annlee (January 31, 2018). "How Honey helps users keep their New Year's resolution to save money". American City Business Journals. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
See also
This page was last edited on 25 January 2024, at 14:50